Taking Writing Criticisms Personally

Criticisms  about writing on the receiving end can be particularly personal and painful . I've always wondered why negative feedback about one's writing stings much more than criticisms in math and science courses. And it is not as if math or science professors do not make shitty remarks to their students. Not only will they say ugly things to their students, but they will even go out of their way to rebuke their students and often in a public fashion.

For example, on a day our physics professor was handing out our exams, he accompanied the hand-out to each student with a quick verbal comment. For many students, it was a "good job". But for me, he said "You need to learn algebra." It wasn't enough that he wrote a scathing message on my exam: "You need to learn simple mathematical operations and improve your algebra." No. He had to vocalize his opinion to the whole damn class.

As derogatory as this was, it still didn't hurt my feelings. Looking back, I think it's pretty funny.

Compare this with writing. Every criticism seems to be nitpicky and I question every negative comment made. For some reason in math and science I didn't do that. When I was told I was wrong, I accepted it and didn't dwell on it.