Criticism is the New Compliment

Throughout this semester, I have learned to read and write at a more critical level. This class has helped me grow in the sense that I’m content with the development of my voice in my writings and that I’m more comfortable with being in a literary space. I used to have self-doubt about trying to attempt higher levels of English courses for the sole purpose of not knowing if I’d be a good writer or not. Now that I’ve managed to make it through this class, I feel like I can better navigate how I choose to present my ideas through literature.

Before I advocate for enrolling into English courses in college, I need to unpack the previous fears I had for fitting in, so to speak. In high school, I felt like grades defined my level of intellect. I would work hard to make sure I read through every assignment before its deadline. From my hard work, I’d end up with nothing short of A’s on my papers. However, these positive reinforcements throughout my high school career set me up for failure. When I was in AP Language and AP Literature my junior and senior years in high school, respectively, I took the required exam in hopes of scoring college credit. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my writing style didn’t grow that much, and I wasn’t ready to receive a passing score on college exams yet. I failed both of my chances of getting AP credits that I believed would’ve benefited me in college. After I received those results, I vowed to myself that I’d never enroll in another college-level English course ever again.

Flash forward to my first semester here at Geneseo when I was taking not one, but two English courses. In my defense, one of the classes was the required interdepartmental course that first-year students are obligated to take. The other English course was a 100-level class that made me work for my grade. At first, I was frustrated with how much writing was expected of me. I didn’t think that an introductory English course would turn out to be one of the hardest classes I have ever taken. There was even a point when I considered dropping out of the course so that I could maintain a perfect GPA. Retrospectively, I was thinking about my college career the same way I navigated my way through high school, but luckily I learned that’s not how people succeed in life.

Now as a sophomore, I’m more confident with the work I present in my classes. As a Political Science major and a Black Studies minor, I assumed that I should stay away from the stress that comes from the self-doubt I set myself up with whenever I’m working in a literary environment. Literary critics, including myself, might’ve argued that studying a language that we all generally speak in our daily lives is a waste of time. However, I’ve come to learn that academics are interconnected to a certain extent. Not only is English relevant to how we communicate within our society, but it is also an essential tool that’s present in whatever career path people decide on. Recent studies have shown that lessons learned in English classes carry over into the workplace because employers look for people with critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Before taking this course, I held onto the stereotype that people from an English profession were only good at critiquing how people speak and giving a synopsis to any book you mention off of the top of their heads. Now, I’ve come to learn that having some sort of literary background is an advantage not only in the workplace but in making someone a well-rounded individual overall.

After considering these benefits of taking an English course in college, there still might be students that are reluctant to enroll. My high school self would completely side with students who are anti-writing, but looking back, I’ve realized the reason to why I wasn’t content with my work. Many high schoolers have to follow a specific curriculum that requires them to answer a prompt given by their teachers. All these years of call-and-response haven’t allowed for room for an individual to grow as a writer, which can make them despise and lose appreciation for literature as a whole. Speaking from experience, whenever I was required to write an essay that didn’t allow for my personal opinion or input of free-thought, I’d just write to get a good grade. I never considered the possibility of implementing my voice in essays because I had to write to satisfy what my teachers were asking of me. If I strayed too far away from what was required, I’d fear that I’d receive a bad grade and that I wasn’t a good writer. However, criticism is a way that people learn from their mistakes and grow within that said discipline.

Nobody likes to be critiqued on something that they put in a lot of time and hard work into. When someone receives words of criticism, they may view it as bashing what they presented, as opposed to simple suggestions. What people don’t realize, including myself, is that criticism can actually be considered as another form of encouragement. If no one received constructive criticism at one point in their lives, that would imply that everything they do is perfect and without any flaws, which is absolutely ridiculous.

One of the main issues I had to tackle this semester, other than finding confidence in my writing, is the number of times I didn’t proofread my work before I published it. It was evident that I didn’t look over what I was saying in detail. For example, I just started to feel comfortable with presenting my thoughts freely in blog posts, but I never took the time to revise my ideas. At first, my blog posts consisted of what I was emotionally feeling at that time. Yes, it is great to utilize blog posts as an outlet for my thoughts; however, I learned over time that expressing my feelings instead of writing about ideas presented in class wasn’t beneficial. As I posted more blogs throughout the semester, I started to develop a balance between presenting my voice in my writings along with the argument I wanted the reader to look for in my work. Another thing that benefitted me this semester was the connections I made between classwork and things that I’m passionate about. Not only does learning something new in class aid in a student’s ability to grasp and appreciate new concepts, applying opinions made the coursework even more enjoyable to partake in.

It’s incredible to see how your writing develops over time from the amount of practice with the blog posts and the revisions made in major essays. In this class collectively, everybody can agree on the self-growth they’ve witnessed in their writing. I think that it’s empowering to see how others evolve at the same rate as you do and that there’s some sort of bond that comes from this. We’ve all had moments where we might’ve thought that a particular assignment was going to be the end to the progress made in this course. I still have much more work to do, like asking for help or asking questions in general, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished in class this semester. In the end, the course has helped us learn more about ourselves and the world around us, which is a great trait to have as an individual.

I will say that I am grateful for the amount of feedback I received both from Professor McCoy and my peers. By reading into the comments made about my work, I was able to improve what I was trying to present in a more coherent manner. The message I hope people take away from this self-reflection is that it’s ok to make mistakes. I understand that at times it can be intimidating to fail in a space that you’re not originally a part of, but presenting ideas in such classes allows for growth, which is essential in whatever academic environment someone chooses. It’s like Wayne Gretzky once said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” If I never enrolled in this class that challenged me every time, then I wouldn’t have been able to present my ideas how I want, and I would’ve never learned that criticism is necessary for this process of self-growth.

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