As we start the fourth quarter, teachers struggle to keep seniors fully engaged in their class. But this problem is not only caused by “senioritis” and really applies to many students of all ages here and throughout the nation.
Every year, at New Trier and high schools across the country, teachers have to listen to the same old tune of frustrated students asking “What’s the point of learning this stuff if; we’re just going to forget about it two weeks later?” or the proverbial “When are we ever going to use this in life?” However, a class where teachers can confidently assert their lessons will endure is writing. Concepts taught in writing courses are essential to know. Students can run away from transformations of cosine graphs or rationalize their ignorance of the nervous system of a cephalopod, but there is nowhere to hide from writing.
All of New Trier’s curricula are very carefully considered and reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that what is taught is worth learning. Yet an age-old dilemma here and at high schools across the country persists: many students do not feel passionate or interested in some of the subjects they must study. For the most part, this is not because of poor teaching or widespread apathy from the students, nor is it due to “the system”—the ominous, vague term that many use as a scapegoat for a wide variety of problems with American high schools. To put it simply, students learn best when engaged, and some class material simply will not be able to fully engage everyone.
In writing classes, this problem can be addressed, but many instructors and curricula fail to do so. These classes should teach how to write each type of essay and then let the students choose their own topics instead of trying to shoehorn more class material into these assignments. By doing so, teachers would encourage independent learning and students would learn how to apply their personal interests into crafting a specific type of essay.
Writing essays with fewer guidelines would also build life skills and creativity. Instead of relying on clear-cut instructions from the teacher and the crutch of Microsoft Word’s word count tool to monitor their progress, students would be forced to make difficult decisions and trust their instincts. The skills that would be acquired in a more permissive, independent writing course would be instrumental in a real world situation. When someone steps into a job interview, where are the specific requirements for the content of their answers? There are none, but the critical thinking skills acquired in a writing class would prepare someone in this position well.
Despite all of this, many writing courses are still taught in simplistic ways that fail to engage students. In these classes, students are taught a variety of different writing styles, from narrative to argumentative to definition essays. While this should be engaging and exciting work, all too often these essays have the same restricting requirements: they must be a specific number of pages and five paragraphs—with an explicit thesis and topic sentences—and the content must cover a very specific topic from a book the class just finished reading. We don’t argue that high school writing courses should ditch assigning narrowly defined essays on texts. We merely submit that there should be just as many—if not more—open-ended assignments.
Engaging students more in writing classes would better prepare them for life outside of high school. New Trier’s mission statement is “to commit minds to inquiry, hearts to compassion, and lives to the service of humanity.” Writing courses would be a great place to start.