Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 20, 2022

Stephen King spent most of his time in school in the psychologist’s office.

That means the school psychologist will soon need a psychologist.

Worth it.

I feel like this was Bill personally venting about all the writing “rules” he was taught in school.

That’s because your definition of “Fun” is really screwed up, Calvin.

Mrs. W. is a severe teacher only with Calvin, I presume.

I tried to think of something creative. Imagine Superman swapping outfits with a fashion designer who complains about the awful color scheme.

Indeed, he’s in the wrong institution. He should be enrolled in a state institution!!!!

Is this the story where they use the time machine?

Maybe he’s related to Dorothy Parker, who said “I hate writing, but I love having written.”

Calvin is right; I’ve always hated writing assignments—even in first grade!!

The happy medium is in there somewhere, Calvin.

And yet I have tutored college students for years who can’t write a coherent paragraph, let alone a term paper. One woman I know who has her degree in literature writes book reviews on a well known website. If she weren’t clear over in Canada I’d offer to tutor her; she can’t even write a decent sentence without a thousand unnecessary insertions. I wonder who “taught” her to write at the university level, and shudder.

I always have something other to do during writing!!

The different types of ‘writing’ require different mindsets.

In essays conciseness is important. Introduction, statement of thesis, explication, summary, conclusion. My initial high school classroom essay assignment required 5 paragraphs of about 5 sentences each, with student choosing from a list of about a dozen topics, and with personal choices acceptable. Some made it look easy. Some aged in place trying to boil the topic down to the basics, and some just could not get there in under a dozen pages.

Scientific themes followed the ‘scientific method.’ Observation, hypothesis, experimentation, evaluation, conclusion.

In fiction writing, on the other hand, the sky was the limit. Choose any theme, any time period, any subject except excess violence and graphic sex. Took 2 weeks to even grade for content and structure. One year lives in memory because a young lady, well known in certain circles asked _What’s the difference between ‘graphic sex’ and ‘regular sex?’ To say there was laughter is to say the sun is a light.

And people say teaching writing is tedious and unnecessary. It probably is the single skill that allows one to express opinions or emotions or to inform about discoveries of all kinds without being shouted down by those who disagree. Else why libraries?

This is another example of how Calvin often represents the immature side of Watterson’s character and Hobbes represents a more mature side.

This strip can also be seen as an example of how Watterson was seeing his own strip. He admits in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that there were times when he saw the strip he’d created as a monster. He sometimes rebelled against the rules for comic strips and set new rules which other cartoonists have followed.

Rolling the eyes, Hobbes? Really?

The world could use more school psychologists these days.

Calvin reminds me of the two English courses I had to take at Penn State. They were very discouraging.

When did they start having school psychologists? I don’t remember them when I was in school.

word processing makes it so much easier. I write the stuff that I like or that comes to me, then back up and connect it all.

These days, they’d probably skip the psychologist and call the police.

This is a real issue. I remember in middle school and high school teachers trying to get the redneck guys in class interested in reading and writing and then giving them “Of Human Bondage” to read and write about. This offered nothing to those guys. Give them a copy of Field and Stream or a book on hunting and ask them to read and write about that, instead. I was the world’s biggest bookworm growing up and even I hated sloughing through “Of Human Bondage” and I refused to finish the “the Grapes of Wrath”! (Thank you, Cliff Notes!) Give people something that interests them and you’ll get an entirely different reaction.

My music theory teacher told me it’s better to at least know the rules before you go breaking them…

I really miss Calvin and Hobbes and wished Bill continued the comic strip : (

We’ve heard about Calvin often ending up in the school principal’s office, but the school psychologist? That’s a first…

actually, it’s probably a good hint about one should viewing writing as a career or not

LOL!!!!

There seems to be a misconception that creative writing is supposed to be fun. Many great writers were tortured by the process. I personally knew a best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction who killed himself. They say to never go into writing to make money; only write if your stories compel you to write.

School made me think I hated poetry until I realized music was poetry set to music. Example: Read “Richard Corey” then listen to the Simon and Garfunkle version.

Why does this remind me of those kids who commit mass murders after telegraphing their intentions in writing exercises?

I love to write. It’s working with numbers that kills me.

Why doesn’t he write about Spaceman Spiff?

If my youngest were in school today, that’s exactly what would happen. He wrote a drew some things that would seriously upset today’s teachers. Luckily, he had teachers with some understanding and a sense of absurd humour. :)