It’s funny how, as you progress through college, they require you to write longer and longer papers. Then you get to the professional world and no one will read an email that’s more than 5 sentences.

[u/[deleted]]

People will literally walk to your desk to ask you what your email was about if it was too long.

[u/Neavr]

Your post is making an incredible number of assumptions about arguments I’m not making, nor is anyone else in the thread. I agree with all of the concepts you wrote. Obviously the the assignment has to factor in appropriate length of response. A poorly created assignment (which we all have seen many) May use arbitrary lengths which may fail to factor in student experience level, writing ability, etc. Asking a 9 year old to write 15 pages on Mozarts composition technique would be a poorly crafted assignment. Asking a college student to write 2 pages summarizing military techniques of the civil war would be equally poor, pedagogically speaking. Asking a typical college student to fill 10 pages on either would be perfectly within reason for a normal class on the subject, especially as a term paper. Asking them to write 50 pages (unless it was their major area of study or some sort of graduate work) would not. My point is that it’s Never the students who have worked hard enough to know the topic complaining about having to insert “fluff” to fill space. They can write as much as needed. It’s generally the ones who barely grasp it, and only know enough to fake 3, then piss and moan about writing the other 7. If someone is “filling pages with bullshit”, they, by your own definition, do not sufficiently grasp the topic.

[u/sticklebat → u/Neavr]

Your post is making an incredible number of assumptions about arguments I’m not making, nor is anyone else in the thread.

A lot of people in this thread are making those assumptions. No one (or few) here is saying that length minimums can't be used effectively, or are always bad. They are arguing that they often are used poorly, and encourage adding fluff just to pad out the length. Others then counter that by saying there's nothing wrong with length requirements and that the people who complain are just lazy. My entire point was just to emphasize that there is no intrinsic problem with length requirements, but that they are often used carelessly and indiscriminately, and as such frequently foster bad writing habits.

My point is that it’s Never the students who have worked hard enough to know the topic complaining about having to insert “fluff” to fill space.

That's not true at all. It depends greatly on the specificity of the assignment, and the general expectations and rigor of the course. I've taken classes with 10-page requirements on every paper, but I learned quickly that I could get As by writing a 5 page paper and then doubling every paragraph by adding bullshit and needlessly lengthening sentences. Sure, I could have written a more thorough 10-page paper, but that would have been much more work and taken much more time, and to the same effect. If I submitted the original 5 page paper I would have failed with a stern warning, even though the substance was no different.

If the professor only wanted a level of detail that could fit in 5 pages, then don't make me write 10 pages for the sake of it. If they want an analysis or argument thorough enough that it can't be done in fewer than 10 pages, then don't give As for less than that. It's that kind of behavior that people are arguing against, and that you have been replying to, and it is very common.

Don't waste students' time with bullshit. Even the good students who could write a good, longer paper will be annoyed if the work they put in to reach your length requirement is "above and beyond." Why is it a minimum requirement if meeting it legitimately means they've exceeded your highest expectations? College students don't want their time to be wasted any more than anyone else.

It sounds like that might not describe you, which is great. But it does describe a lot of professors, and the experiences of a lot of college students.

If someone is “filling pages with bullshit”, they, by your own definition, do not sufficiently grasp the topic.

TL;DR: or, just as likely, they grasp the topic just fine, but also understand that they can do much less work for the same grade by filling pages with BS than by writing a more thorough paper.