Oh! I remember what happened today now. I was late to school. The story can be summed up in the punishment essay I wrote.

Victims of Circumstance

Yes, this is a late essay. Yes, I typed it because I believed it would be faster so that I could get this punishment out of the way and then get onto doing things I want to do or other things that I have to do (such as homework, since I’m a hard out A Level student). And yes, I had no good excuse for being late. Since I’m typing this out and I have an approximate typing speed of 90 words per minute I’m going to guess this will take me no more than 8 minutes to complete. But just to be fair on you teachers who want me to actually do some tedious pointless essay, I won’t use paragraphs so you get more bang for your punishment, so to speak. Anyway, the typed font will be much more legible to whoever is reading this as my normal handwriting can be quite poor, which any of my friends can tell you. Anyway, where was I. Yes. Victims of Circumstance. (Mrs. Figgins if you’re reading this, hi! Please don’t be angry, I’m not trying to be cheeky. If you really, really really want a handwritten essay just tell me and I’ll write all of this out by hand.) Victims of Circumstance. Well, I was thinking about this when I went to school today and knowing I was late I didn’t bother running (I actually left my house at 8:25 so there was no way I’d ever get to school on time), but while walking I saw this busload of students who were now officially late go past me. When we reached the teacher on duty, who was doing his duty taking down names for lateness, the bus had unloaded students. Even though it wasn’t the student’s fault that the bus was late, the teacher on duty still gave them all essays, claiming they should walk to school if their bus becomes late. Now, there’s a bad argumentative point, I thought silently in my head, but who wants to argue with a teacher? All you’ll get is two pages which is double the annoyance, really. But back to the point – his claim was that everyone should be in walking distance to the school and we should all walk to school. And if not, go to another school. Well for some it just isn’t technically possible. I know, out of zones students have to handle their own means of transport and get to school on time. I know, it’s their problem. But I think in the case I encountered the day I silently accepted my essay and walked off to form-time, the people on the bus were victims of circumstance. Think about it, nobody wants to get an essay – nobody in their right mind, anyway. (I certainly didn’t arrive at school late for the overwhelming joy of writing (or in my case, typing) a one-page essay.) Those students were just caught in a situation they had no control over. Let me go over my evidence. Firstly, like I mentioned, nobody wants to be late to school. Secondly, none of the students on board the bus had magical time powers, so when the bus was late, it was late. They could do nothing. And if they chose NOT to take the bus, they’d be even later. So why burn them for making the right choice spontaneously? I know if I was a teacher I’d rather my students arrive a little late on a bus than get stressed out running to school and getting the same punishment anyway. So pretty much my point is, you gotta have some flexibility. Not everyone wants to be late. It was a perfect, legitimate reason why they were late, because their mode of transport was late. (Most people who walk are just lucky their legs are obedient 99% of their lives and don’t charge any money). It’s not like any of the students deliberately told the bus driver something along the lines of “hey sir, slow down, I want to be late to school so I can get punished with an essay!” I...don’t think so. Yeah. That was pretty much what I wanted to say. I know (and so does Mrs. Figgins) that some people actually read essays...well she does, anyway. (Hi again, how’s things up top, Mrs Figgins?) Is this the case in the top office? Do you guys hire someone to go through piles of late and automatic essays, or do you just shove them through a shredder? I hope someone reads this so they understand the point I was trying to put across. If I was kind and generous I would write the essays for everyone on that fated bus ride. But unfortunately, I am not kind and generous. If you office ladies read this, hi! Thanks for doing a great job. If you office ladies run this through the shredder, no hard feelings. You’re probably just doing what you were told to do. Anyway, I think this is enough. I have homework to do now. Perhaps some other time, when I get another essay, I can discuss something else that rags me. Until then.

Yup. That's what happened today.