by Isabella Battaglini Posla
A skilled writer is one that has the ability to interpret an idea into words that transport their readers to another universe. Everyone has different opinions on who they think is a good writer and who is not, some favoring those who are easy to comprehend, and others preferring a more abstract style that leaves room for interpretation. Reading can be described as a portal into an alternate dimension, where as you flip through the pages, reality seems to slip away. Bibliophiles understand this feeling of being in two places at once, and writers themselves find the process of creating this new universe exciting as well. Oftentimes though, students feel pressure to adjust their writing style to fit the preference of the professor and achieve a higher grade. This can unfortunately conquer the natural urge to use our own voices. The thought process is ‘would I rather risk writing something the way I want to say it, or choose the safer option that will result in a better grade’, and more often than not, students choose the latter. Vershawn Ashanti Young expressed this belief as well, asserting that “grad students also be tryin too hard to sound smart, to write like the folk they be readin, instead of usin they own voice”(Young 113). This results in a cycle of the same views and writing styles, and no diversity in writing.
While I believe that we as students should be given some freedom in the way we choose to express ourselves on paper, I still firmly believe that formal writing and grammar should be a focus in high school and college. There can be a balance between teaching the complexities of language while not enforcing a homogenous writing culture and obstructing individuality. My highschool writing teacher was an expert in this field, creating a space where all students felt free to use their own words, while creating something truly beautiful that they could be proud of. One of the ways in which he did this was by celebrating out of the box ideas, and not only centering on phrasing. He of course valued effort and marked errors in grammar and structures, but not everything had to sound like it was written by William Shakespeare as long as our ideas were concise and original.
The skill of writing is becoming increasingly important, now more than ever, because the new generations are slowly losing the ability to write formally compared to other generations at our age. It is commonly believed that people learn to write through reading, as this is an easy way to absorb new vocabulary and open your mind to new ideas. Considering this, it makes sense that teenagers nowadays are reading less and less each day, having an exceedingly harmful effect on their writing. The way writing is being taught is changing rapidly across the world. In the Netherlands, the expectation established by the Dutch Inspectorate is for writing to be taught only twice in a month(Rietdijk et al., 2018). In China, the time devoted to writing is similar to that of the Netherlands, but they put more weight on reading(Hsiang et al., 2018). Society needs to start viewing writing as a more valuable art, as it lays the framework for other important school subjects, while also improving students’ ability to “understand and retain material read or presented in science, social studies, and mathematics”(Graham & Hebert, 2011; Graham & Perin, 2007).
All students should be given the opportunity to become competent writers, as it is a fundamental skill that will prove to be beneficial in a variety of aspects in life. Without this, “the importance, versatility, and persuasiveness of writing exacts a toll on those who do not learn to write well, as this can limit academic, occupational, and personal attainments”(Graham, 2006). This has the potential of creating a great disparity between students who were and weren’t taught these formal writing skills, emphasizing their lack of experience and resulting in fewer opportunities. Some claim that continuing to teach formal writing enables discrimination, but I would argue that it is crucial to preserve some guidelines for writing or else the art would be lost in the coming generations. There are many effective ways of incorporating your own voice or code meshing while maintaining the integrity of writing and the English language. This can be done by combining classic rhetorics with your own cultural codes or dialect, creating a more vivid and engaging picture, and keeping your individual style. Of course it would be easier to have low expectations for students in the name of allowing them to unleash their full creativity, but the negative impacts would be made evident in the future when they evolve into adulthood and lack the basic writing skills required in the workforce.
Stanley Fish provides the response he gives people who assert that they have the right to their own language, affirming, “Yes, you do, and I am not here to take that language from you; I’m here to teach you another”(Fish 2). The purpose of these guidelines is not to erase our cultural background or alter the way we express ourselves, but instead, to add formal writing to our list of skills and make your writing more multidimensional. The end goal is proficiency in two different forms of writing, the formal and the way you speak naturally, which will benefit the student in the professional world, while at the same time, allowing them to maintain their own personal identity.
Works Cited
Young, Vershawn Ashanti. “Should Writers Use They Own English?” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies. Department of English, The University of Iowa, September 1, 2010. https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/ijcs/article/id/29866/.
Fish, Stanley. “What Should Colleges Teach?” New York Times, 2009.
Graham, Steve. “Changing How Writing Is Taught – Steve Graham, 2019.” SAGE Journals. Accessed November 3, 2021. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0091732X18821125.
“Antiracist Praxis: Code Meshing and Code Switching.” Subject Guides. Accessed November 7, 2021. https://subjectguides.library.american.edu/c.php?g=1025915&p=7749939.
Rietdijk, S., van Weijen, D., Jassen, T, van den Bergh, H., Rijlaarsdam, G. (2018). Teaching writing in primary education: Classroom practice, time, teachers’ beliefs and skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110, 640–663.
Hsiang, T., Graham, S., Wong, P. (2018). Teaching writing in Grades 7–9 in urban schools in the Greater China Region. Reading Research Quarterly, 53, 473–507.