Students often do not understand why they have to write essays. I like essays, for that is my name: SA. Seriously, this is the reason. When we were young and just learning to talk, we would say, “Water”, and they would give us water.

 

Now that you are older, high school students, your needs are much more complicated. We are teaching you how to express your complex feelings and desires so that other people will know how you feel. Just as the baby has to say “Wa, wa” repeatedly until the baby learns the word “water”, you students have to write essays repeatedly until you learn how to express the complexity of who you are.

 

The English teacher assigned the class to read "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," and to write about it. I asked students why do they have to read things like this.

 

“I do not know!”

 

“I'll tell you why,” I responded. You have to learn the skill of self-expression and communication. Suppose, for example, you wanted to be a good tennis player. You would watch how good players play. The same with learning the skill of communication. You read the thoughts of people, observing how they communicate their thoughts, and learn. It is necessary to spend a lifetime reading in order to constantly improve your skills in expressing yourself so that others can understand you, and that you can understand others.

 

“No one ever told me this! Why didn't anyone tell me?”