My essay

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I have never posted here before, but I have browsed some of these forums a few times. Anyway...I just started college and in an English coarse I'm taking we were assigned to write an essay. The essay is supposed to be written in "Grammar-B" (an obscure name for non-traditional grammar) and the subject of this essay is supposed to have something to do with a "language or literacy event in our lives that has impacted us deeply".

Now to get to the point of my message. I was diagnosed with AS when I was fairly young. When I get an assignment like this I get SO frustrated. My main issue is the subject of the assignment. A "language or literacy event that has impacted me deeply"?!?!?! Do all of you other people with AS out there have problems with questions like this, or is it just me? It might seem silly but this type of introspective question has seriously been a huge roadblock in writing assignments for me.

I hate those kinds of questions/prompts to no end.

I usually just sit down, just kind of assume what kind of answer it would warrant, and then just BS my way through. It usually works, too- I often get As and Bs on completely BS'd papers. It's weird. Awesome, but weird.

I actually ended up writing about how absurd those types of questions are. It will be interesting to see if it flies.

In Japanese, I get writing assignments a lot. The prompts are vague. I stare at a blank piece of paper for a long time (my teacher has given up on getting me to do them in class and doesn't even let me start, just assigns them as homework) until I finally come up with something that usually makes no sense. I have the same problem when she asks me open-ended questions. And I also feel like my answer to each one has to absolutely be the best answer ever, so that doesn't help. So I parse what she says, spend a LONG time thinking of a reply, figure out how to say it and I don't know how she manages to come away with the impression that I'm really good at Japanese, because it clearly doesn't show in these situations. (Then again, most of the tests consist of translating single words or short phrases. That's easy.)

It sounds like one of those topics where they are fishing for a particular response (usually something they want to write about). I always hated topics like those in school, especially when the teacher acted disappointed when nobody responded the way they were hoping. I had a 9th grade English teacher who asked the class to write a paper on a song that has deeply impacted their lives. What she really wanted was deeply personal account of how a particular song changed your life, made you the person you are today, etc. Of course what she got were a bunch of reviews on various songs from the class, informally discussing why they liked that song and how particular lines made them feel. She did not hesitate to express her disappointment. Come on now. Most people at that age are just beginning to figure out what kind of music they like. Most of the selections were various typical dad rock songs, or forgotten teen pop from that era. My own bizarro choice was a song from an obscure '70s movie. Really just an excuse to write about the movie instead.

I would suggest just writing about the first thing that comes to mind. Don't try to over-analyze what the instructor really has in mind, because the topic is overly vague to begin with. If they have something specific in mind then they need to stop playing games and be more specific. Don't worry too much about it. You're probably not the only one in your class who is frustrated.

I wouldn't say I'm worried. You don't have to run faster than the bear, just faster than your slowest friend. I'm actually pretty happy that I wrote anything at all. In high school I'd just wait for the assignments I liked and skip the ones I didn't, and in my first time through college (technical school) we didn't even have writing assignments. I was more wondering if other people with AS have had similar frustrations.

Here is a little bit of what I wrote:

Who has had the greatest influence on the person you are today?
How can I possibly gauge that? I wouldn't even know how to begin counting the number of people I have met in my life. How do you measure the influence somebody has had on you?

What is the most heroic thing you have done?
This is a ridiculous question, and I can barely believe I have been asked to write an essay around it. Next.

What has been the most important event of your life?
Important how? Important in what way? Even if there was some clear cut pivitol moment in my life, wouldn't it be at least equally as important that I got out of bed the morning of said event?

What is an important issue that you would like to educate people about?
This question was the subject of my 10th grade writing test, so I had to make something up in this case. Being even less mature than I am today, I chose a subject that I thought would be specifically offensive to what I had in mind for the average person grading the test. Looking back it's not exactly a proud moment, but to me this is a terrible question to ask on a basic standards test.

What is your favorite thing to do?
That's something that changes just about every hour. Is it really responsible to respond to a question that's answer changes in a matter of hours?

The whole essay isn't in this style. This is just how I end it. I know none of you asked, but can some of you out there agree?

I wouldn't suggest doing the whole 'what is courage' (look up the urban legend) spiel, really. Bad idea, in my opinion, even if the teacher has a good sense of humor. Just give them what they want, even if you have to fake it. It's better than having to write a second, correct essay after getting it back with a 'what is this crap/are you trying to be funny' note at the bottom.

You're probably right. Still, though, I'd like to see that teacher's response.

I should probably reiterate...there is more to the essay than what I pasted in this thread. I just thought some of the people on here might find that particular part amusing. Either way I don't really see how it is the equivalent of a one-three word answer.

I had one particular lecturer who worded all assignments in these kind of ways. I would feel like I was looking at a page of jumbled words with no meaning at all. I could read it again and again and never find what the question even was. No one else seemed to struggle with her assignments, but a few times I was so off track I handed in work that I was informed had nothing to do with the assignment. I always felt puzzled and asked for a different interpretation of the information, but it didn't help much. Eventually I tried to avoid her classes all together.