Today's students won't really get this post, but anyone who went to school before everyone had a laptop can appreciate it.

I used to dread the writing assignments given in English class. It wasn't the writing that I hated (thank goodness, given my chosen profession) but all of the pressure surrounding the formatting of the assignment. It had to be typed and double-spaced. There were to be two spaces after a period, one space between paragraphs, and a one-tab indent to start the paragraph. Oh, and don't forget the clear plastic report cover with the rigid plastic spine.

I was reminded of this formatting non-sense when my husband came across some old school projects in a box upstairs. He showed me his essay on foreshadowing, aptly titled "My Essay on Foreshadowing." I don't know what his final grade was, but I noticed he got a lot of points deducted because of formatting errors. The one that really gets me is five points off for the cover page. I guess "English Period 4, Teacher: Miss Lyons" was supposed to be spaced down to the bottom of the page, rather than centered along with his title, name, and date.

No kidding kids hate English class! As a recovering perfectionist (OK, slowly recovering perfectionist), I remember the terror of hitting the wrong key on the keyboard (OK, watching my mom hit the wrong key on the keyboard). I remember the words flowing like mad. But I remember more the worry over how well I formatted my paper.

Maybe kids would enjoy the creativity and release that putting words to paper can bring them if they didn't have to worry about how many points would be deducted for using the wrong size font. I'm sure part of the thinking behind the formatting rules is to instill in us the ability to follow directions. I wonder, though, if my average writing audience would be reading above an eighth-grade level if we were taught more about the art and craft of the English language and less about counting returns.