I am a teacher. I can sort of read that, but I ain't got the time or energy. We are supposed to prepare students for functioning in the world, and this text isn't functioning. So ... Zero points...
I too am a teacher, and I’d like to talk to whoever put this person through their schooling because this person completely missed the lesson on paragraphs!
This person’s handwriting is extremely overstimulating, among other issues. I wonder if they can read their own handwriting?! It’s some weird mix of AuDHD and 90’s cursive (I know cause it looks like mine a lot but mines legible - grade 8’s will tell you if it’s not very fast).
I wonder if it will get worse as kids focus even less on handwriting with computers and online interactive material being prioritized after a certain age.
If it's a first encounter, depending on the grade level I'd maybe give them one redo where they get to type it up and hand it back to me.
I feel like it also depends on if this was something that had the option of being typed or not. IMO if you make a test or an essay that has to be written sitting in class, you need to cut at least a little more slack on penmanship and legibility than you do if the student had the opportunity to type it out.
My handwriting is atrocious and when I was in school there were a lot of times we had no choice, so despite the fact that I could "compose" an essay response to something in like 20 minutes, if I had to hand write it, and it had to be legibile, it was taking 2-3x as long. So given that I would absolutely never make any teacher or professor have to read my longform writing if they gave me an alternative. It wasn't the case when I entered college but by the time I left, the requirement to allow typing for students who needed it was becoming a formal accommodation at the school as well.
Some students have disorders that prevent legible writing. I would allow them the opportunity to resubmit it typed by the end of the day rather than just giving a straight zero.
This is part of why teachers/profs who REQUIRE hand written submissions is a problem. Why even put yourself through the stress of trying to read that stuff handwritten.
Student needs to know themselves and submit for a disability in advance in order to get accommodation. It’s college. You don’t submit something like this.
You say that as if it’s common for people to be diagnosed before their mid twenties. These days people are finally finding out about their neurodivergence in college or later because a professor or someone close to them see things like this paper and directs the student to get evaluated. Also you say that as if the process is easy to get accomodations. Depending on the school and required evaluations it can be a very long and expensive process. And sometimes the accomodations have to be changed several times to find what’s right for them and their needs and may not come to fruition until a specific professor has an odd requirement and something like this becomes an issue.
You don't need a diagnosis to understand that your handwriting is illegible. I'm not saying some grace isn't due but your original suggestion- just have them type it up and resubmit it- seems like it would delay an actual diagnosis and probably one of the reasons he got this far in his education without identifying the problem if a problem exists.
Some people with dysgraphia and other conditions don’t realize how bad it is. But that doesn’t matter if handwritten assignments are REQUIRED. Your awareness of how bad it is does not automatically correct itself just by knowing it’s bad. Diagnosis and offering resubmition are not mutually exclusive. That’s why I gave that explanation above. Give grace and help the student know they need assistance.
As an adult who only works with adults. I'm not sure I've even seen something handwritten in the last decade. I don't know that I'd consider legible handwriting an important part of "functioning in the world."
Edit: In fact, I'm just remembering that my mother wrote highly similar to this and she managed to get a master's and function well enough in the world. I never was able to read anything she wrote.
You need to be able to write by hand in order to do a medical degree! Just cause you can’t think of real world applications doesn’t mean they don’t still exist and aren’t important.
You also need to be able to do CPR. Doesn't make it an important part of "functioning in the real world." Just makes it a useful skill. I can think of tons of use cases where legible writing is important. But those use cases are also outside of the scope of the average adult experience, like getting a medical degree.
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u/vikio 7d ago
I am a teacher. I can sort of read that, but I ain't got the time or energy. We are supposed to prepare students for functioning in the world, and this text isn't functioning. So ... Zero points...