You know the format by heart: an intro, three body paragraphs, conclusion, complete with a hook, thesis and topic sentences. And never ever use "I." That’s right. The typical format of an essay in our education system. For years, this way of writing was drilled in our heads. Students are constantly told to fancy up a paper with longer sentences and bigger words. Almost to the point where they have no clue what they’re even talking about anymore. But recently, teachers and students around the country are wondering why we are taught to write this way and is it really conducive to good writing?
Now deciding between "good" writing and "bad" writing is very subjective. It depends on so many things; the topic, the genre, and, perhaps most importantly, the audience. Yes, if you write in a journal or keep a diary you are writing for yourself, but a majority of writing is written for a specific audience. And I think we can all agree that good writing is that which leaves an impact on the audience. Writing that allows you to create something that will entertain or inform or elicit emotion. I just do not believe that three body paragraphs, an intro and a conclusion give a writer the opportunity to do that.
If you think about writing as an art, having a specific format you have to follow is about the most constricting thing ever. You lose the freedom to construct your art to your standards. If you think about writing academically, the same thing happens. Most arguments can not be made to fit in a mold, nor can most narratives or informative pieces. Teaching students to do this may cause them to lose the part of the piece that carries their voice and creative choices. It may make grading papers easier, but does it really create better writers? Does it really help students build their knowledge of how good writing can be structured and how it can function in many ways? I don’t think it does. I feel it exhibits writing as a one-dimensional assignment that is boring and has no purpose other than to get a grade from a teacher who is grading five hundred papers that all look the same.
Now, this is just one problem with the "common core" issue in our education system, but I feel this problem represents very well why the common core may not be the best choice. Each one of us works in different ways. If each of us is shoved into a template or one idea of how everyone should learn, we lose so much of what make us special along the way. We lose our creative freedom (which could be the single most important thing we have in today's society), we lose our feeling of uniqueness and we lose a well-rounded education.
So I think, when talking about education and writing, in particular, we need to say to ourselves, “Is this really going to give us the most beneficial and bountiful outcome that it can?”
