“I objected to the fundamental reality of the entire class,” said Sam of English. “All of a sudden I was being told I was wrong—about a thing it was impossible to be wrong about. The thing that offended me is that it wasn’t honest with itself. It was subjectivity framed as objectivity. All the grading was arbitrary. I don’t even know how you grade it. I disagreed with the implicit factual claims behind the things that got good grades.” He’d sat through middle school in a stupor, but by high school he was sure enough of his own mind that he was willing to challenge his English teachers’
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