# And I used to scoff at the idea of "language police"...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-used-to-scoff-at-the-idea-of-language-police/178201>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 29, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-used-to-scoff-at-the-idea-of-language-police/178201 "2003-05-29T05:30:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-used-to-scoff-at-the-idea-of-language-police/178201/101 "2003-06-07T05:40:13Z")

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Yep, if I had to score an essay that was supposed to be about snow days and it was written on tornados, I’d have to give it a big zero. The grading rubric would demand it, no matter how well it’s written, or how imaginative and indicative of higher cognitive skills, etc. The good news is that kid’s probably going to make up for that score, given a bit of time and half a chance.

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**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-used-to-scoff-at-the-idea-of-language-police/178201/102 "2003-06-07T05:49:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BadBaby \*  
> \*\*Yep, if I had to score an essay that was supposed to be about snow days and it was written on tornados, I’d have to give it a big zero. The grading rubric would demand it, no matter how well it’s written, or how imaginative and indicative of higher cognitive skills, etc. The good news is that kid’s probably going to make up for that score, given a bit of time and half a chance. \*\*

Yes, and you’d be a lousy teacher for it, too. If the kid doesn’t know what snow is, and has never had a snow day, how should she write about it? You can change the question as stated earlier in the thread, or you can give the kid a break and the extra marks for originality. At least pretend you can think for yourself when you are marking essay questions where the mark you give is based upon your subjective opinion. Otherwise you have no business marking anything.:rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-i-used-to-scoff-at-the-idea-of-language-police/178201/103 "2003-06-07T23:27:08Z")

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Hmm, When I was a kid there was a word for coming across a term or concept that you didn’t understand, it was called learning.

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