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In reply to the discussion: One teen’s standardized testing horror story (and where it will lead) [View all]coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)was copied from his personal blog by the Education editor for the WaPo. None of us know whether Singh was given the opportunity to spruce up his piece prior to its publication in the WaPo. Perhaps the fault lies with the WaPo editor for failing to perform even rudimentary editing, speaking of failing to pass journalistic muster.
As I noted downthread, the original piece appears to have been published in a blog:
http://listenthefilm.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/who-am-i-and-why-should-you-care-about-this-silly-documentary/
The use of 'and' twice in a single sentence violates no known rule of grammar, provided that the 'and' links two independent clauses, as it does here in both instances. Granted, the syntax is a little stilted perhaps. (Might have read a bit more elegantly to say, "Hello, my name is Ankur Singh and I'm 18 years old and just beginning my freshman year . . ." But there's no rule of grammar or style violated that I'm aware of.
The essay is a highly artificial, ad hoc form. Since the days of Montaigne, few real writers have said to themselves, "Gee, I think I shall sit down and compose an essay." Instead, real writers say to themselves, "I'm going to write about the problem with AP classes." Thus, demanding that writers conform to some abstract 'essay' aesthetic in order to pass journalistic muster strikes me as the height of pedantry and the antithesis of what real writing is all about.
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