Et Cetera--Use Sparingly, Please

A student wrote an essay for my class, explaining how he felt about the school. “The rules are dumb,” was followed by one point: “Y’all tell us how to dress. That’s SO un-cool!” The next word made me seethe: “et cetera”!* The kid moved on to accusation 2: “For lotsa reasons, I get really bored. Like, classes are so long I wanna sue!” He thought that one example should suffice. “Et cetera,” he scrawled, and forged ahead to his next grievance. Here comes insult 3: “SOME of the meals are yucky.” Then he said, “Et cetera”! and slung down number 4: “Your class needs LOTS of changes. Homework stinks!” Then, feeling he had made his point quite clear, he said “et cetera.” Here’s what he thinks about class schedules. I present point 5: “Like, man, SO many changes should be made. We need more time to get from class to class.” “Et cetera” continued to abrade my nerves. His closing paragraph, I SWEAR, declared, “Like I explained above, y’all need to change some stuff, et cetera. The END”! Thank God, “et cetera” can’t make eyes bleed. The rewrite I required would give support, specific reasons, three per point. “Complain if you so choose," I said, “but if you use "'et cetera' one time, I’ll go insane!" *Note: The student used the abbreviation "etc.," of course! January 8, 2022 entered in the Latin Lessons Poetry Contest Sponsor: Margarita Lillico