With an ‘A’ paper in mind, I anxiously waited to read the notes on my rough draft. As I tapped my foot against the ground and rolled my pencil between my fingers, I realized I was excited to edit this paper. I spent hours typing up this rough outline because I believed it had the potential to become a great final draft. I eagerly looked up at my teacher as they shuffled through their stack of white papers and with a quiet pat, mine hit the desk.
I flipped back the first page – nothing. I flipped back the second page – a couple check marks. I worriedly tossed the last two pages aside to reveal a hurriedly scrawled note that read something along the lines of: nice job, but this could use a little work. What work? Besides a few circled words and some scattered check marks, my first draft was as barren as a desert. All I wanted was a few notes of constructive criticism.
I understand that multiple classes are sizeable lectures and it is difficult for a professor and their GTFs to fairly grade each large assignment. Though my incident happened some time ago, it still lingers at the back of my mind because I know it is happening to other students.
The half-hearted checkmarks I received on that paper represented wasted money. I am paying for an education, but I cannot learn if I am not challenged. I would rather see endless remarks scribbled sideways and diagonal across each page because it means that someone wants to help me succeed.
Nonetheless, a rough draft involves effort from two parties: professors and students. Both have the potential to create or destroy the final draft. Effective feedback can only be given when effort is received. As students, it is our job to understand that learning doesn’t mean completing a last-minute final draft, pressing send and closing our computers. Just as we are constantly growing, we are regularly learning.
A well thought-out rough draft is just as important as the final version. It proves that education is more than a degree or a GPA. Turning in assignments solely for the sake of a grade is a waste of time and money. I would argue that the degree we are so bent on acquiring is not as important as one may assume. College is a small community compared to the entirety of this world. A graduate will not go very far if they cannot demonstrate the skills that are supposed to accompany a higher education.
If we graduate from a university with only the knowledge surrounding our major and/or minor, we will build on a society that no longer cares about the rough draft. I like to imagine our education is in the shape of the letter ‘Q’. Our major is the tail that cuts loose from the rest of our learning and knowledge because of the heavy focus it receives. However, that tail would be rather odd to see alone, blinking at us from a word document. It cannot exist without a circle of support because then it could no longer be a letter. It would hold no meaning, just as our major or “final product” holds no significance without the research, support and time in other fields of study that helped us along the way.
Both professors and students have a duty to one another to care about the rough draft. A rough draft that receives poor attention will form a final version that is half of its potential. In the end, I did receive a good grade on that final draft, but I learned nothing new. For you see, besides a few grammatical corrections, I didn’t change one thing and now my ‘Q’ has a small skip in it.
 Follow Jessica Foster on Twitter @jessiemarie246