Composition

Angelina brought her composition back. It began proudly with ‘I am clever and lazy’. Her mother fainted.

“How could you write that?” I said. “Even if you think so, you don’t need to tell your teacher.”

“She even used ‘and’, not ‘but’!” Angela said as she regained her consciousness.

Angelina was consistent with her statement. Later, we opened her handbook and found it full of codes we could not decipher.

“What is N.D.N.W.?” I asked.

“No dictation next week,” she answered.

“How about R.M.B.?”

“Read I can ride my bike.”

“This is ridiculous. You will forget what they mean soon.”

“But I remember.”

I paused. This was an argument I could not win. I tried to figure out why I was so upset. Perhaps it was because our administrators were also creating lots of short forms I could not comprehend. If my daughter wishes to become one of them, what can I say?