Constructive criticism challenges cherubs

By Elizabeth Rowe

Lorraine Lee, a cherub from Los Angeles, wasn’t expecting the amount of criticism she received on her first story.

“When I got my first paper back, I was really surprised to see so many comments, because I thought it was a pretty good article,” Lee said.

“But I learned right away that I needed to ask more follow-up questions.”

A cherub's graded paper comes back with a lot of ink.

Lee’s reaction was not uncommon among the cherubs when they received critiques of the roommate interviews. As editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper, The UltraViolet, Lee is the most experienced journalist at her school. Still, she was not expecting her assignment to look as though it had been attacked with blue ink.

After the group critique, cherubs knew they had it coming even before the papers were returned. Emily Mulholland, a cherub from Kentucky, wasn’t surprised when her paper came back with more ink on the page than white space.

“I was one of the 'don’t-do-this' examples during the critique,” Mulholland said.

However, she said the criticism always has an upside.

“My instructor is good at ripping you down but also giving you something that you did well, so you don’t feel completely demoralized,” Mulholland said. “I think everything they say has merit, and they totally know what they’re talking about.”

Some cherubs were used to the high level of criticism, however. Larry Yee, a cherub from San Francisco, said he was not surprised by the amount of ink on his corrected paper.

“My advisors are sometimes worse than the ones here,” Yee said.

But for most cherubs, the first corrected assignment was a wake-up call.

“I thought I did a decent job,” said Alexa Fogler, a cherub from Cincinnati. “And then when it came back, I was like, 'Wow, this whole thing is wrong.' ”