Not only was I deprived of being able to creatively express my own thoughts, but I was being taught nothing to improve my proficiency as a writer, nonetheless, as a student. If my language was my barrier to be able to freely write what I wanted, I might as well have pulled out my Google Translator. Being enrolled in a high school that was nationally recognized for its rigorous curriculum and highly-motivated teachers and students, not only did I almost not have a choice but to succeed, but was pressured to succeed far beyond my peers. Because the charter school that I had attended was integrating mathematics, science, and technology, a lot of the papers that I had written in school was either research-based or analysis. There was almost no outlet for creativity to be incorporated. However, during my senior year in high school, my AP Lang teacher had assigned students with a writing prompt that involved a 15-page senior thesis paper. I had a glimpse of how my future nights would turn into, long hours of writing incompetent drafts on topics that I had no interest in. Despite how discouraged I was after being told of the paper’s length, I asked myself, “what could …show more content…
A few grammatical errors here and there. Possibly add more details. “Why not go more in-depth with your paper?” my teacher would say, but what kind of advice was that really entailing? Not only was I stuck with an amateur paper, but now I was confused on where to even begin editing. I assume the assignment held a valuable purpose, whether it was to test students’ abilities to write a coherent, well-executed paper in an extended page limit or to observe whether students were capable of successfully contradicting and authenticating two blunt ideas. However, unfortunately, the effect was rather mediocre. I feel as society continues to encourage students to possess more individualistic and creative qualities, possibly offering an open-ended writing prompt might encourage many to seek out what they are curious to know more about. This way, they do not feel restricted to the strict topic that the teacher suggests.
My writing experience definitely gave me some leigh way of choosing my research topic, and being able to attack the topic in many different directions. In order to develop further creativity and curiosity in students, they should apply their personal experiences and interests into their writing. Why is reading more fun when you get to choose the book’s genre? Well, because the topic brings you joy and excitement. Just like how the book’s content can motivate a student