<p>Why do some English/Literature professors want you to give your OPINION on a selection of literature, but you end up being told that your opinion is not correct? Isn't your opinion what YOU think? Not what someone else wants you to think?</p>
<p>That is an excellent question that I myself asked back in the 1970’s, so I feel your pain. I will never forget a graduate English lit class where the teacher asked for our opinions. After I raised my hand, was called on, and gave my opinion, he said dead straight, “You’re wrong.” I thought EXACTLY what you just posted above. However, I was lucky enough to have a memory of another teacher at another college who balanced that man out. I once had a literature teacher who said, ‘Any opinion is okay as long as you back it up.’ Thus, I came out with some crazy ideas, but I’d say, ‘Look at page four where so-and-so says/does this, and look at chapter 3, where so-and-so does that,’ and she gave me an A grade at the end of the semester. Thus, there are some teachers like the one you describe above… and I do not know how to answer your question: ego in jeopardy, wanting to lord it over you, wanting to just be downright insensitive, etcetera… but as you continue, remember to try and back up your opinion with what you observe through class readings/notes/discussions, and at least if the teacher says, ‘You’re wrong,’ you can think, ‘Well, then I just look at the facts/interpret the facts differently.’ I know it is frustrating. I am a teacher myself, and I try to be like the open-minded one, but I tell my students to back it up at all times. Thanks for posting this question, as it certainly brings back the memories of being on the other side of the teacher’s desk. :)</p>
<p>lawrencemom pretty much nails it. Either your professor phrased the question foolishly or you misunderstood the professor’s intention. Either way, the idea in all literature classes is to present an interpretation (forget that word “opinion”) that can be supported with clear, abundant references to the text(s) you are writing about. If you did not support your interpretation well, then it just might be wrong.</p>
<p>Now, if you’re in an upper-level class, and you’ve taken a class in literary theory, and you have used the tools that can support an “edge case,” then that’s a different story. But I suspect that is not your situation.</p>
<p>Your opinion, academically, has to come from accepted sources- the novel(s) you’re studying directly, other books by the same authors, (auto) biographies and/.or historical sources. You need to be in the head of the author and the socieyt they inhabit. If you’ve read too narrowly on the subject, you may come up with a particular view point which is completely blow apart. </p>
<p>In that grad class of lawrencemom’s, if i had the guts, I’d have challenged his answer. Why was I wrong in his opinion? A totally valid request, even in the middle of the class. </p>
<p>But sometimes, academics can be very reluctant to accept new ideas which contradict a majority held view with any grace. Hold on to the view and keep coming back to it looking for the holes. It might make a good disertation or masters paper…</p>
<p>highland_poppy, I’m kind of chuckling at the ‘challenge him’ part… oh, yeah, I contemplated it, but I wanted that passing grade in grad school, too! 
I did challenge a teacher or two for different reasons and even wrote a letter of apology to a department chair for a group of us going after one of the profs when we didn’t like his final exam format… but when I was sitting in that class, I was kind of thinking exactly what the OP asked in the first posting. All the posts on this question have great info/ideas to consider. Thanks for weighing in.</p>
<p>These types of situations are kind of weird. Some opinions are far more substantiated than others, but as long as an opinion is supported by some kind of reasoning, it can’t really be called ‘wrong’ as such. </p>
<p>I took an Intro to the Humanities course a couple semesters ago, and this point was one of the things that the professor made a point of discussing. The course was mainly about art analysis/interpretation. We were discussing the interpretations of meanings behind different paintings, and she pointed out that not all opinions or views are really valid. We were discussing “A Sunny Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte,” and she said that someone could legitimately say that there is an axe wielding maniac behind one of the trees. They aren’t ‘wrong’ as such, but they’re a whole lot less right than are other opinions or interpretations. </p>
<p>English is the same type of subject. Classical works of literature have as many different interpretations as you could want. English professors tend to be the type to frequently feel like their own interpretations are more informed, which may or may not be the case.</p>
<p>This is why I’m a physics/math double major. I have a set of logical steps and formulas to get the right answer. It’s not about interpretation.</p>
<p>That’s why I sometimes just write about what I know my professor will agree with. </p>
<p>I’m not always so wishy-washy, though. Like lawrencemom said, you have to pick whether you want a passing/good grade or the pride of proving your point. Some classmates and I got into a heated argument during the middle of our group discussion one time, and my professor had to listen to me cite the lack of proof of the others’ interpretation and listen to them criticize mine. After going round-and-round with raised voices and high tempers, she shut it down and said we were both right since there really was no clear-cut answer. </p>
<p>At first I resented that and thought she was just appeasing us like children, but then I realized how mature and open-minded she was being about it. She wasn’t going to tell either of us that we were wrong because no one knows. She’s the kind of literature prof everyone wants to have, and I have so much respect for her. </p>
<p>So, when they say that you’re wrong, just know in your heart that their opinion of your answer can never be validated, not even by the author of the work itself, probably. :)</p>
<p>Opinions need to have reasons behind them. Just saying what you think is meaningless unless you can articulate with sound logic and evidence the why’s and how’s and why do we care’s behind it. If your argument didn’t make sense, was weak, or if you simply stated your opinion without argument then that’s probably the reason why you got it “wrong.”</p>
<p>i never gave my opinion in class to have this happen to me thank god. to be told i was wrong when it was the first opinion i had ever given. that would have <em>shattered</em> any ideas i had that i could be ineligible if i wanted to, and it was not the case that i wasn’t speaking because i wasn’t any good at it. actually, i just didn’t like sharing my opinions. what if they were good ones? then other students might steal them and use them as inspiration for their essays. no, i wanted to keep my ideas to myself. what were my ideas? i don’t know, but everyone has ideas right? so i thought i had ideas too, waiting to be shared if i ever wanted to. but remember, i didn’t want to. and until ideas are shared its just things bouncing around in your head. it doesn’t really exist yet until you say it out loud or put it in your essay. so i didn’t think it was so bad that i couldn’t internalize to myself what my ideas were. to do that you’d have to say them first but i never did.</p>
<p>i saw it happen to other kids though but usually it was the kids who had ideas for every question that were sometimes let down. that didn’t kill their confidence or stop them from sharing, but it did serve to nudge them about which ideas were more speculative and less well founded than others. they had good friendly relations with the teacher so it was all in the name of constructive criticism. if a shyer kid who rarely shared was way off base with what he said i think the teachers i had would have been gentler. with kids who don’t share its important to encourage them to share above all else. you don’t want to discourage him. he’s already discouraged enough about his ability to share if he’s not sharing. so for those kids you have to be receptive and positive to their ideas. once they’re sharing more, then maybe its okay to nudge them like you nudge the confident kids who share a lot. maybe. you could crumble the self confidence they had accumulated. when you go from not confident to confident the foundations is sometimes not so good, so you receive your first criticism and then all that confidence you had accumulated is gone in an instant like a folding house of cards.</p>
<p>^ I get what you’re saying. And normally, I’m pretty sure an instructor would understand that, too. They know who participates a lot and who doesn’t, so when they see little Johnny in the back raise his hand for the first time, they’re probably thrilled that he’s speaking up and will try their best to make his opinion feel valued and encouraged. (At least they SHOULD do this.) </p>
<p>I disagree that it bounces painlessly off the more confident students, though. I’m one who always has something to say about everything, and it still hurts when you get something wrong. Instead of feeling the shame of “oh, I’m an idiot,” it’s more of the shame of “oh, I let everyone down because everyone thinks I’m so smart.” It usually takes me a few minutes to recover, and even then, I’m still inwardly nervous that what I’ll say will be “wrong” and that everyone will judge me. </p>
<p>It’s rough for everyone.</p>