I’d love to know what different people think BS means.
I always thought that somehow you were fooling the professor—making them think you knew something you didn’t, or giving them some kind of analysis that seemed bogus to you but the professor bought. It’s the equivalent of guessing on a science test. Except that it’s with words, so it’s less precise, and maybe you can get the professor to read into your words what they are looking for.
Of course, all professors have dished the BS in their lives, too. Everyone has. So it’s kind of foolish to think that anyone would not be able to tell what it is. But if that’s the case, why does it work?
I finally came to the conclusion that BS is not really BS. We consider it BS because we aren’t sure what we’re talking about. But that’s ok. If we write to an issue (and I do that all the time here), we often come up with something worth sharing. We might think of it as BS, but it is a normal thinking process. Writing helps us think, and that is especially true when you don’t know what to think. So you may think you are BSing, but you are really thinking in a way that matters.
That does not guarantee that you’ll think anything worth thinking, but it’s a start. Professors and TAs can see when your BS is going somewhere and when it isn’t, and they mark accordingly. But if you think you are BSing and you get a decent grade, I’d like to invite you to think that maybe you actually did some decent thinking.
It’s always nice to know where you are going before hand, when writing an essay, but many times you don’t know. Just put pen to paper and write. At least half the time you’ll find yourself going somewhere worthwhile, I think. It’s serendipity. It’s providence. It’s BS. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. I have found that much of life is like that, anyway. Learning to BS is learning a different kind of thinking process—one that is much more useful and effective than you might think.
And that’s no load of BS!
Or is it?