“Excellent!â€? read the bright red words on my paper.

Oh! How cruel! How could she? Simply writing “98%â€? wasn’t enough! She had to add the “excellent!â€?

98%. Now that was a solid fact. It was all in the calculations. The data adds up. It is plausible! “Excellent,â€? however, it’s not supported by fact. There is no proof to support this statement except one’s own speculation that scoring a 98% is an excellent achievement!

And these undesirable phrases—“good job!,â€? “well written,â€? “great workâ€?—are written on everything she grades!

Today I was to hand in my essay on the phobia of my choice, an essay which I had not written. Oh! What will she say to that? What horrible red words will she write on my nonexistent paper! Oh, the derogatory remarks! She should keep her brutal assumptions to herself! How spiteful she must be to have such an attitude! What a crude woman to think such things of another!

Oh no! What am I doing? These awful thoughts I am submitting to! I am succumbing to my worst fear: opinions!