[NeoXP]

In my case, English teachers are like a Russian Rollet. One year I get the highest grade, the other I get a failing grade. Why? Simply because some teachers can't comprehend a smart idea(so unless I dumb down my writing to his/her level of understanding; its bye-bye grade for me.
So what about you? How did school effect your writing. Were you encouraged on creative writing?
Let the posts roll in. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif
p.s.: If a teacher tells you that he/she doesn't undersatnd your point, don't try to explain it. In this case, Resistance IS Futile.

[Alucard]

The only useful tools for writing that I got from school were the basic rules that I learned in elementary school. After that, it was just repition and writing in that painfully terrible way that all my english teachers seemed to love. I always got good grades in english, because I knew how to milk my teachers...

So writing never appealed to me(and reading, for that matter) until I finished school. All throughout it, it just seemed like a chore to numb the brain. So if anything, school almost killed my love of the written word...

Here's a trick if your still in school. On the first day, ask your teacher what their favorite book is. Read over some of the book. Mimic the writing style. Boom. Straight a's. In most cases, this will work wonders...

[Penumbra]

I have been a teacher for many years and understand your confusion very well. Good teachers do not really teach. They develop a knack so that you are inspired to want to learn and become capable of teaching yourself. Grades have nothing to do with learning unless you feel you must impress others. Learning is everything and it must occur both ways. If a teacher is not responding to you the way you wish, you must adapt or find one that will. Of course, there are disciplines to overcome, some of which get in the way, especially in creative writing. Send me a sample and I'll give you a fair shake.

[Sammie]

I have to defend english teachers in general by saying my secondary school teachers really encouraged me to write creatively and were generally helpful and, well, nice, about what i produced. One or two inparticular were great about encouraging originality in people's work as well, which i think is really important (and i know you guys all tend to agree!). So they aren't ALL bad!

Sammie.

[Barbarossa]

While I made the experience that my (un)popularity with a teacher would influence my marks, that (un)popularity hat little to do with the quality of my written words.

(Rather with my spoken words: teachers don't like if you embarrass them in fron of the whole class by proving that they he flamed a book he obviously never read (he admitted on having only seen the movie, which unfortunatly covers only half the book, which he didn't know). Besides some bad marks I got a late satisfaction though, when the flamed author recieved a noble prize 2 or 3 years ago *grin*)

[Metosblat]

Penumbra,
If only there were more teachers like you.
Of the five English teachers i've had in highschool there has only been one who really "got" my writing and encouraged me to push the envelope.
I think all english teachers start out wanting to inspire pupils, but the establishment sucks the life out of them.

[Lord Soth]

I don't know about you're experiences but the last nine yrs of school I can never remeber teachers encouraging imaginative writing in class which is a shame.

Although having said that they did encourage outside participation in the schools english paper, which i'm glad i did as i ended up writing some good/ish poetry. But it excludes those who would not normally attempt such an extra curriular activity. It would have been nice for just one time to be set a task that demand imagination in class rather than dry analysis.

[Penumbra]

Metosblat,

Teacher suckage! (% a particular teacher sucks at his trade) Unfortunately, there were only three individuals in my life whom I can honestly say earned their keep as teachers. The rest were in it for reasons of their own which never seemed to manifest itself as concern for students or even their chosen craft. One was Michael Hailparn who taught me Philosophy in college and was the amateur chess champion of the U.S. at the time. Another was Stanley Austin, my mentor at the College of N.J. where I got my Masters in Composition. The third was not a teacher, but a fellow from whom I learned electronics. It's always a crapshoot and you can't plan for it.

[Cadfael]

That reminds me of a guy I used to work with, I have to admit I sucked at mathematics at school, even with one on one teaching I found it hard to take in.

When I started work at 16, the guy I worked with... showed me how to work my wages out, and how to work out the income tax and NI. He then showed me how to do other mathematical equations in our dinner breaks... I learned more from him in six months than I did in 10 years at school... he made it fun, but more importantly, he showed to to what uses I could put math to in real live... like working out a bet on the horses http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif. Or keeping scores at darts.

[Valada]

I was the bane of all teachers in my highschool years - so I can't really hold anything against them now, I suppose! But yes, for most you have to alter your writing style to suit them. Luckily I was very good at doing this, and usually managed to write what I knew they wanted to read. However, there was ONE teacher who used to read my more creative stuff in her own time, provide me with comments, and who was incredibly encouraging (even if she was a monumental cow in class!). I'll always owe her a debt of gratitude. Usually, if you find the one teacher that really does it for you, then it compensates for all the pathetic ones.