12 readers to bind them all

After reading the "12 Readers Reading Materials" and discussing the student essays in class, I've gained a better sense of how I'd like to judge a student's writing. It doesn't involve pointing out to a student every spelling error, misuse of an article, antecedent, or comma. I noticed that the comments made by professors on the students' essays mostly singled out problems in coherence and expression of ideas. And this an approach I find most beneficial. It's always good students know how to use parts of speech and proper syntax, but such problems should be secondary to the organization of an essay - unless organization itself is vague due to the utter lack of grammar and syntax rules.

Also, I find it important to respect a student's position on whatever subject he/she may want to write about, particularly in an argumentative essay such as "The Right to Pray." Who's to say what one can and can't argue about, especially for such a moot subject? What is important is that statements are substantiated with evidence and research, which this essay lacks. But whether or not a topic can be argued for should not be commented on. A lot of things have been argued for and against successfully that today seem odd and unless a teacher or professor is Aristotle reincarnate, what's arguable shouldn't be judged too quickly.