Book Review: Why They Can’t Write
Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and other Necessities
By: Bethany Chappel, M.Ed.
Students across America sit at their desks in classrooms with teachers who have been given clear expectations about the written work that these students should be able to produce, namely in the form of a five-paragraph essay. If you’re reading this, then you are probably well-aware of exactly the type of essay to which I refer. Sure, it serves its purpose, guiding students through topic sentences, thesis statements, concluding paragraphs, etc…, but does the five-paragraph essay have a place in every assignment and writing goal that a student has throughout his or her academic career?
This essay form has become the norm. According to author John Warner, it is a colossal problem in our schooling systems. Students know how to write a five-paragraph essay, but they cannot produce work beyond that realm of composition.
Explicit instructions are often put in place which require strict requirements for written outcomes. An exact number of paragraphs, a certain way to begin the first sentence, and an expected closing all lead to cookie-cutter essays. The author argues that these young writers have become like robots in an assembly line, except they are learning to piece together what should be thoughtful, creative, intuitive essays. Instead, writing students are too focused on including exactly five to seven sentences in each paragraph and exactly five paragraphs in their essays. More thoughts left to share with their audience? If it doesn’t fit in those parameters, leave it out: teacher’s orders.
When did essay writing become such a strict concept, like puzzle pieces that must fit exactly into a given template? Sure, students should understand critical elements of an essay, but they should also be able to expand their writing to utilize those elements into written pieces that allow for the incorporation of broader-thinking.
Blame it all on the teachers? Not necessarily, in fact, not even close, Warner says. Essay-writing requirements have become so tailored to standardized testing, which is often tied to teacher evaluation scores, that it is no wonder writing skills have become such a disaster among young learners, including in college and graduate school. Teachers, “underworked and overpaid,” will teach their students to write essays that meet their state’s testing requirements. Students produce written work as they have been taught. As post-high school learners, they continue to use the same format for written work that they did in their high school classrooms, because that is all they know.
According to Warner’s book, students fear less than perfect grades. The notion that all students should earn an A in every class they complete, is defeating to many, and can cause anxiety. Of course students who are told to write a five-paragraph strictly-formatted essay are going to do just that. To earn an A? Sure, why not?
A cycle of standardized testing, high teacher expectations to get students to perform in a very specific way on those standardized tests, and students succumbing to that pressure, have become a repetitive cycle that has led to an overall lack of creative, intuitive writing skills. Warner writes that hardly any students with whom he has come into contact by their college years have actually been asked to write. Instead, they have been trained to pass writing assessments. This also affects attitudes toward writing. Many students simply dread it.
If we are aware of the issue, what can be done about it? Warner’s book argues that if we offer students the right combination of resources, time, and motivation, we can help them to develop better attitudes and writing habits. Students need to have an opportunity to write about things about which they are passionate and knowledgeable. Providing them with an opportunity to research and explore can lead to more new knowledge, and a motivation and desire to extend that even further.
Another important piece of reforming students’ mindsets about writing is to avoid strict time limits. Feeling pressured to complete an essay in one class period or a written assessment during a short testing window is simply detrimental to their success.
Warner reminds us of the overall importance of well-rested, healthy happy students. Happy minds and bodies produce better work overall. This is applicable in the workplace as well. Students who come to school without breakfast or after a late night, are not going to be as mentally alert as students that have been given a nutritional meal to start their day after a good night of rest. This comes into play through their entire day. Reminding students about the importance of having healthy bodies and healthy minds is wise to do. They become aware of when they are performing at their best, and when they are not. They then learn to become advocates for their own healthy habits, too.
We have to teach learners how to think outside the box, how to explore, how to find answers and passion for information they are want to learn. The author feels that the if administrators and educators adjust their mindsets, and focus on writing as more of an “experience” rather than as an “assignment,” our learners will become more capable, motivated, successful writers overall.
