Sometimes I have to wonder whether we are pushing our students too hard. Come on, they are 17 year olds, what do you expect from them? Honours-thesis level essays? Why can't we appreciate the good in them and applaud them for showing what they can do in a controlled exam condition? What's with all the nitty-gritty? We want our students to express themselves and assert thier opinions, but everytime they do so someone tries to put them down with all this negativity. Can't a student express his own opinion without having to substantiate every single assertion? Shouldn't we be looking out for what students have done well and give them credit(even though it's not always possible), instead of making uncalled for remarks which are neither reasonble nor helpful?

I am flouting the very rule that I tell my students: NEVER bombard your reader with a barrage of questions. But sometimes we just don't have the answers to our own questions.