Reason for taking summer school english?

[Horus]

I'm filling up my AIF for waterloo and I'm stuck on this question where I have to list the reason why I took this course in summer school.

The reason I took it in the first place is that:
1. I believe high school English is useless cause all you learn is Shakespeare which is unrelated to the actual world.
2. I suck at English and I want to get it over with in the summer so I'm mostly stress-free during the school year.
3. Trying to write essay in English makes (feel) more stupid.
4. If I took English in the school year, my mom will waste money on me to get this tutor who's a retired high school teacher and have lots of experience including tutoring university students. (It's still useless because last year when he edited my essay and said I'll get high marks, I ended up getting 60% on the essay)

I obviously can't say any of that. I just really don't know what to say. Can't think of any good excuses. And with my summer school English being 66%. I have to make up a good excuse...

Also there's no place in the AIF to show off your English writing skills >.>

[unoho]

lol, as far i knew, u didn't really had to write that you took english in summer school. as far i knew,, it was like they ask u if u took any course in the summer (repeated course, most likely). if tht english course is not a repeated course, i don't really think you should tell them that it was a summer course. lol
im only gr. 11 and i never seen those forms. but that's wht i heard from my sister and her friends.

[Tony]

Horus @ Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:08 pm wrote:

I believe high school English is useless cause all you learn is Shakespeare which is unrelated to the actual world.

Shakespeare is typically just one of a few books covered throughout the course. While the language itself might be dated, the analysis, discussion, and writing (that make up the bulk of the course!) are very much modern and relevant to the actual world. At the very least, you learn to express yourself without contradictions, unlike unoho up there.

unoho @ Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:16 pm wrote:

i never seen those forms ... but ... lol, as far i knew... <some more non-sense>

@Horus -- you could opt for a generic "better fit for my schedule" response. If I'm not mistaken, there might be a different section where you can comment on the actual grade received (which is an issue separate from taking a summer school course).

[[Gandalf]]

Quote:

I believe high school English is useless cause all you learn is Shakespeare which is unrelated to the actual world.

This is the same as someone who dislikes math saying "I believe high school Calculus is useless cause all you learn are derivatives which are unrelated to the actual world", which is all too common.

Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but in general I hate such hypocrisy. It's fine and dandy to criticize someone else for not liking, understanding, or whatnot your subject of choice, but when it comes to something you hate, well, what a useless and pointless piece of garbage.

Maybe there are reasons you don't quite understand for those subjects being taught, as a computer science student might be able to tell you with Calculus. Not that I'm saying the education system is without flaws.

[Horus]

Tony @ Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:28 am wrote:

Horus @ Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:08 pm wrote:

I believe high school English is useless cause all you learn is Shakespeare which is unrelated to the actual world.

Shakespeare is typically just one of a few books covered throughout the course. While the language itself might be dated, the analysis, discussion, and writing (that make up the bulk of the course!) are very much modern and relevant to the actual world. At the very least, you learn to express yourself without contradictions, unlike unoho up there.

unoho @ Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:16 pm wrote:

i never seen those forms ... but ... lol, as far i knew... <some more non-sense>

@Horus -- you could opt for a generic "better fit for my schedule" response. If I'm not mistaken, there might be a different section where you can comment on the actual grade received (which is an issue separate from taking a summer school course).

I'm not sure if "better fit for my schedule" is a good excuse especially when right now I have to take a gr 11 course to have a total of 6 courses on my timetable.
There isn't any place to explain myself about anything, except for the reason to take summer school.

And there's this one more thing: I got 88/150 on Fermat last year. (My calculator was broken...) I'm not sure if I should just write that I didn't take the contest. because getting 88/150 on Fermat will make people think that you are stupid or suck at math.

To unoho: what was your grade 11 english mark? mine was 67%.

About how calculus is useless. It is useful for people like me who wants to go into computer science, but useless for those who just want to get into accounting where basic knowledge of addition/subtraction is good enough. So when a friend who wants to go into accounting complains to me that calculus is useless I will agree.

[unoho]

To Tony: I don't know why you are so angry (maybe not the right word) on me. if you think im contradicting anyone or any idea, i apologize i just expressed what i knew.

To Horus: i still haven't received my english mark yet. because the semester isn't over. the midterm mark was low because i failed one of the test. so it was 65 in midterm.

[[Gandalf]]

Horus @ 2008-12-27, 11:37 am wrote:

So when a friend who wants to go into accounting complains to me that calculus is useless I will agree.

Yes, but in addition to what Tony said, high school is about getting a well rounded education, not about specializing in anything. In the end most of the things you learn during your education turn out to be useless, but that's not supposed to be the point.

[Tony]

@unoho -- I was angry with your apparent inability to put together a coherent sentence. Though I see that you are capable to doing a better job, so keep that up.

@Horus -- considering that the average for Fermat is 86 http://cemc.math.uwaterloo.ca/contests/statistics.html#pcf (that is, you've done better than average), you should keep it in your AIF. Participation itself counts; and they've got your score on file anyway.

A good excuse for your English grade, is any legitimate reason for your particular outcome. If you got a lower mark, because you "broke your arm during a round of extreme chess and had to miss a month of school for rehabilitation" -- yeah, that might be considered. Otherwise I'm not sure how much impact those "excuses" really have.

[DanielG]

it's ok to learn things that turn out to be useless, more than ok in fact. However, it is annoying how English, which for the most part most of us will never use (I don't mean we don't speak, we just don't read shakespeare and analyze it, among others) is a required course counted towards admission averages in practically any field.

[Horus]

Wow, the average for Fermat is that low? I think I got the lowest score in school.

Anyways, I really can't think of any excuse. Do you think writing an essay about how useless high school English is and that I don't need it so I took it in summer school is a good idea?

also from AIF:

Quote:

Distinctions and Honours
Please list any academic honours or distinctions that you have received and the dates when they were awarded.

Please list any non-academic honours or distinctions along with the dates when they were awarded.

I'm not really sure if I have any Distinction honours academically or not. Is grade 8 piano considered one? and is it academic or non-academic?

edit: oh yea, I think I got lots of those honour of Distinctions back in middle school, it was so easy to get back then.

they are titled "award of excellence" and stuff for being in the top of the class.

I also have this one for pascal contest in grade 9 called Certificate of Distinction for ranking in the top 25% of contestants.

are any of those above considered distinction or honour for UW?

[SJ]

Personally I quiet like English. Though it's tedious to work through the essays and presentations, we did learn many interesting things - not only the technical aspect (grammar, structure, etc) but also the philosophy. For me it was THE course through which I matured and started understanding life. I guess it's because my teacher this year (a very, very old man) teaches differently than your's, Horus. So, in short, I disagree with you. I don't think English is useless. It doesn't hurt to learn some shakespeare if you can get past the mental block that let you open up to the subject instead of turning away in disgust. When you can humbly accept the knowledge it's not that bad at all.

Anyways. if you have a blog, or writing for the school newspaper, I'm sure you can throw it onto the AIF. If your library hosts any kind of reading contest, I think winning one of those would be a big plus. If you have work right now, and your family needs that money to live, and you can't take English because it won't fit into that working schedule, that would be ok. Honestly, if you "believe high school English is useless" (BELIEVE being key here), that kind of reason can't really be rendered into anything great.

[Vermette]

"My grade in X is low because X is boring and not important"

If you want to excel, ditch this attitude. It's poison to real success. Don't believe me?

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CollegeAdvice.html

Quote:

Why should I, as an employer looking for software developers, care about what grade you got in European History? After all, history is boring. Oh, so, you're saying I should hire you because you don't work very hard when the work is boring? Well, there's boring stuff in programming, too. Every job has its boring moments. And I don't want to hire people that only want to do the fun stuff.

[Tony]

Horus @ Sat Dec 27, 2008 3:58 pm wrote:

Anyways, I really can't think of any excuse. Do you think writing an essay about how useless high school English is and that I don't need it so I took it in summer school is a good idea?

No.

[rdrake]

Tony @ Sat Dec 27, 2008 7:03 pm wrote:

Horus @ Sat Dec 27, 2008 3:58 pm wrote:

Anyways, I really can't think of any excuse. Do you think writing an essay about how useless high school English is and that I don't need it so I took it in summer school is a good idea?

No.

Quoted for truth.

[endless]

Horus @ Sat Dec 27, 2008 3:58 pm wrote:

also from AIF:

Quote:

Distinctions and Honours
Please list any academic honours or distinctions that you have received and the dates when they were awarded.

Please list any non-academic honours or distinctions along with the dates when they were awarded.

I'm not really sure if I have any Distinction honours academically or not. Is grade 8 piano considered one? and is it academic or non-academic?

edit: oh yea, I think I got lots of those honour of Distinctions back in middle school, it was so easy to get back then.

they are titled "award of excellence" and stuff for being in the top of the class.

I also have this one for pascal contest in grade 9 called Certificate of Distinction for ranking in the top 25% of contestants.

are any of those above considered distinction or honour for UW?

i think the aif specifies that it should be within 2 years or something. The only thing i had in those was ontario scholar.
Filling out the aif, i would focus on getting extracurriculars in there and try to fill the chart to gain you extra points.