Essay #3- 1st Draft- Writing for Education?

The English language is not an easy thing to master. If you take a look at different pieces of professional writing you would probably see difference in the ways the authors present their information. If you talk to different teachers they will give you different information. So who’s right? How is a student supposed to learn how to write when there is so much conflicting information? Every English teacher I have ever had has different ideas of what is really important when it comes to writing. Some have said that organization is the key, some think it is a strong thesis, some say it is grammar and punctuation, while others say it is presenting an argument, and supporting it. In my current class my teacher thinks that writing for an audience and maintaining a voice is the most important thing. In other classes I have had, teachers don’t even care as much about how the information is presented, just that it is presented at all. I have had classes where the teacher has written their own text book, and technically it is horribly written to the point that it is almost unreadable. So how is a student writer supposed to write to please their teachers if there are no overall rules to follow? I am a student and a writer and I get confused of how to please my teachers while completing my assignments. So what advice would I give to other students? I would tell them that all of the things about writing that all of the teachers have told me over the years are equally important. If you don’t present an argument then the grammar doesn’t really mean anything, while if you use terrible grammar your argument may not be understood. To complete any assignment in school it is important to first understand what the assignment is, and what that specific teacher expects. Then the rest will come by using good organization, and making a clear, strong argument. It is important to maintain your own voice by presenting your information clearly, and then supporting it through the use of information from others that agree with you. Revision is also a very important aspect of writing because it allows you to go back as many times as you need to, making your assignment better each time. Not one of these processes is more important than the other, for they all complete the pieces of the writing puzzle.

Writing starts with having a voice. It is a conversation with an audience, even though you do not always know who that audience will be. Whether you are saying it out loud or posting it on a blog you are still the one saying whatever is being said, and that is important. Your voice is your voice and no one else’s, although in a academic situation sometimes you have to tone it down a little. In school we usually no who our audience is; the teacher. The teacher/audience is going to give you a grade so it is important to include the required information, but the way that you do that depends on you. Early on in my educational career I had a teacher who asked us to write a paper on the subject of race. He was insistent that we did not touch on the subject of racism, but I felt that how could I talk about race without talking about racism. While researching for my assignment I found many people throughout history that said that the concept of race exsisted solely because of racism. Racism was the reason that people felt the need to classify people into races; it was to create a sense of superiority. I included ideas of racism anyways, and when I got my paper back from the teacher there was no grade and a note that said please come see me. I did and he told me I did not follow the assignment, and he would allow me to redo it. I said no because I felt that my argument was just, and the information that I used to maintain my argument was information that I got from him. I asked him why would he give us these articles, which include concepts of racism, if he did not expect us to use them? He was shocked by this and got angry. I then reminded him of how he had taught me to use my voice, and I did that. Whether he agreed with what I had to say or not didn’t matter because it was my essay, and I was not going to let him stifle my voice. That would go against everything he taught me. He was even more shocked, but he thought about it and said I was right. He reread my essay and said I made an interesting argument, and that he had not thought about it that way before. I got an A, and I maintained myself in the process. The moral of the story, be strong, don’t write something just because you have to. Make it interesting, and find something about the assignment that you want to talk about; the stronger the feelings, the stronger the voice, the stronger the assignment.