My Vocabulary Is Too Advanced For My English Teacher

You would think that being a High School English Teacher, you would know words like obsolete and impartial. Well not my English teacher. How could one be so asnine? Maybe I want to sound pretentious?

Asnine: foolish, unintelligent, or silly; stupid

Pretentious: characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved

Just kidding, anyway I was writing an introduction for an argumentative essay today in English class and asked the teacher to read it and give me feedback. Besides a few minor punctuation and grammar errors, her one complaint is that I used words that were too big.

Okay, when I write Blog posts I'm typing how I think and how I talk. I do not write this like a formal essay. When I write formally I pull out all the stops using big words, going to Thesaurus.com. You know, the works. Taking the college class for one semester last year, I was never told that my words were too big. But apparently my own English teacher this year, my intro was too advanced for her. Seriously?!

I don't want to sound like a snob unless I'm joking or being sarcastic (see above) but really? My vocabulary is more advanced than my teachers? For Pete's sake why don't I teach the class! I mean since I was ten those STAR reading tests have told me that I am at a 12.9+ level (I forgot the specifics of it but I always land in 12.9+). Which means that I have the vocabulary of someone who has graduated High School. I know this but the revelation that my writing went over my teachers head was baffling. Is my writing really that incomprehensible? Do I normally confuse people when I speak or write? I don't know. The teacher told me to keep my audience in mind while writing. Well excuse me if I thought you knew what impartial meant! I don't know what words she does or does not know! How should I know what vocab level she is at?! I can't read minds! Finding easier replacement words freakin' killed me (figuratively) I felt like I was dumbing myself down. Ugh! Why can't she just whip out a dictionary or Google it? When I come across a new word I ask what it means or look it up, maybe store it in my brain to research later. I don't just go "Well I'll never know" and tell people to use smaller words. It's not like I'm writing to a Kindergartner, I am writing to a High School teacher!

Revelation (noun): A surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made in a dramatic way

Baffling (adjective): Impossible to understand; perplexing

Incomprehensible (adjective): not able to be understood; not intelligible

Impartial (adjective): treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just

Figuratively (adverb): used to indicate a departure from a literal use of words; metaphorically