In looking back to the first week or two of class, there were many things that were questionable and often times disturbing to me.
To begin with, the class was English 122—a composition class. However, the class was taught like a literature course in which we read stories and interpreted them. Unlike the regular composition courses,
this course had no requirements for length of papers, organization of papers, or due dates of papers. Surprisingly, there was never a research paper assigned. A college composition course with no research
paper requirement!?! I am not complaining, and I am actually thankful for this because I have seen many research papers in the past. However, there are probably many people who have never written a formal paper such as this and have no knowledge of how to go about it. I feel this is an important skill to have,
especially if going into the business field, and therefore should be taught in English 122.

Next, the language that was used during discussions throughout the first four weeks or so of class, in my opinion, was very inappropriate and distasteful. Never before have I encountered an English teacher who
used the word "fuck" so openly and so frequently in a classroom discussion. In addition, the use of words such as "pussy" and "cunt" are simply uncalled for and very offensive to many, including me. I really feel that language such as this is very degrading to women. There must be another way, and there surely are other words that can be used, when approaching subject matter of this type. In opening this paragraph, I stated that this behavior occurred frequently throughout the first four weeks. I draw attention to this because after this point in time, you did begin to clean it up. Now, I don’t know if it was due to the many visits you had with the dean, or if you simply realized that our class didn’t appreciate your actions, but the last half to three quarters of the semester was very enjoyable and still effective minus the vulgar language. I know the words fuck, cunt, and pussy are used often in society today and we have no control over that, however, a professional teacher, such as yourself, does have control over what they say in a classroom setting and should therefore use good judgement in choosing  acceptable words to get their point across. By using vulgar language in an English classroom, it only emphasizes it more and encourages people to use this type of language more openly and freely, which I feel is wrong.
In short, I really believe you should clean up your act.

On a more agreeable note, much was learned. At the beginning of the semester, I truly contemplated dropping the course because I felt all we were doing was reading about sex acts and then writing about them. However, I stuck with the course solely because I needed the credit, and to my surprise, I gained an abundance of knowledge. Although this wasn’t taught as a composition course, I feel we had anin-depth teaching on how to think out, comprehend, and interpret literary works. This is an area of study which I have never experienced before and I was simply fascinated with it. I can honestly say that I have never had to think on a level like this before and, as a result, I am now able to understand the author’s intended meanings. When reading, I now easily pick out buzzed words and analyze content that many people would pass right over. I also liked the manner in which you graded papers and class participation, odd as it may have been. Many teachers don’t let you know your progress in class; however, you made a point of giving our grades each quarter. This was helpful in determining  how much work we really had to accomplish in the remainder of the semester.

In summary, I truly feel that you are a very intelligent man and have very unique, yet effective methods of teaching. Although the skills taught throughout the semester, comprehension and interpretation, were deserving of an "A," my overall rating of the class would be a "B" simply because of the language used.
With that aside, I did enjoy your course and many of our classroom discussions and debates and as aresult I will recommend your class to others.

December, 1991

[POSTSCRIPT: This unsolicited critique was used by Professor Bonnell as part of the first-day materials handed out to most of his classes from 1992 to 1998. Because a parent of a student complained about it, and because the College used it as a document upon which to base its investigation, it is now part of the
Court record.]