1

Has School Helped Us with Reading and Writing?

Michelle Xu

University of California, Santa Barbara

 2

Has School Helped Us with Reading and Writing?

It was a casual Sunday morning, pretty lackluster if I say so myself. The type of day

where everything and nothing was all happening at once. I could say that I was busy, but then

again it is a casual Sunday, so maybe busy was another day but not Sunday. I was going to meet

some “friends,” I say friends lightly because this group of people was different from any other I

have met. Conversations revolved around niche topics, things normal people wouldn’t spare a

second on, and easygoing hangouts turned hostile when a new debate was introduced.

Sometimes hanging out with them was like entering a courtroom where the trial being held that

day hadn’t been determined. I guess it kept me on my toes and made me quick with my mouth.

We had spent the entirety of Sunday over coffee and debating whether school had really

prepared us for college writing. It was a bit of a weird topic. Usually, topics were dogs vs cats, or

tea vs coffee. Debates never were personal. We all went to high school, so we all spoke from

personal experience. We all felt the need to answer the question--especially as university

students. Are we being screwed over before we know it? We all had thrown around arguments

and counterarguments, but our conversations never ended in a clear win or lose.

The coffee shop we frequented was called “The Debate”, pretty fitting for us, but

contrary to the name, it was usually pretty quiet with evergreen ferns decorating the window

sills, pretty blue silk curtains that danced to the wind, a strong scent of coffee and caramel and a

timid owner named Dara.

Dara always knew we came on Sundays, so she would prepare seating specifically for us.

It was a roundabout, probably similar to the one Arthur and his knights had, but ours was

probably more homely. Dara enjoyed our frequent debates and thought we brought life to the

coffee shop, but I personally thought we scared away the so-called “life”.
 3

It started off friendly with small talk about college, but Amber, a second year English

major had brought up her score on her recent paper.

“You know, I thought I was a pretty good writer, I mean that’s what my scores in high

school said, but once I came here, nothing’s been hinting that I am. I barely passed

English 105, and was put on probation because I failed two courses,”

Annalise had been the one to answer. She was a Math major in her third year. The comment

turned into a conversation.

“Seriously? You like writing? Gosh, I remember when I was maybe 12? I would read a

ton and write a bunch, but that’s in the past. I think that all changed in highschool with all

the repetitiveness. I’m just going to stick to derivatives and differentials.”

Gavin, a third year Chemistry major, spoke up.

“Actually I was an English major before I switched to Chemistry. I thought I loved

reading and writing, but Shakespeare and Hemingway were not cutting it. I mean props to

those who love to read that type of stuff, but it’s just not me. I switched majors right

before they tried to make us read the Iliad,”

I was surprised that no arguments had arisen yet, everyone had seemed to be on the same page

about it, so I decided to speak up.

“I feel the exact same, I thought I loved reading, but then school came along and ruined

it. I can’t pick up a book without flashbacks to reading the Crucible. School kinda

ruined reading and writing for me. I don’t really think I learned anything from the

assignments we received,”

Dara was the next one to speak up.

 4

“I mean it’s not the school’s fault. I mean I think I learned a lot from it and it was

interesting and useful,”

Gavin smiled before speaking, and we all knew what that smile meant.

“Is it useful? I mean you did fail two of your classes,”

And there my friends, there it was: the spark that ignited the flame.

Dara smiled. It was a smile we all knew. Soon enough there would be yelling across the cafe,

exaggerated hands motions, and spoons used as mock gavels.

“Is this today’s debate topic? Whether highschool really prepared us for college writing? A

pretty niche topic if I say so myself,”

Everyone sat a bit higher in their seats. Debates required attention, focus, quick wit, and

conviction. Nothing said conviction like a straight back.

“I mean look, I get why they taught us these things, but in the long run, it wasn’t that

beneficial. I wrote the same crappy essay again and again and got A’s but that didn’t

mean they were good. It just felt like a waste of time,” Annalise quickly jumped at the

opportunity to start a debate.

I agreed with her with a silent nod. I did fairly well in high school English even at one point

being the teacher’s pet without trying. My writing was almost copy and paste each time. Still

they came back with minimal red marks and a fat A on the top. Still my writing was average at

best. It made me think, was I getting good marks because I was a good writer or because I was

able to follow directions?

Athena, a fourth year Psychology major, spoke up. She rarely participated in the heavy

debates and yelling, typically sipping away at her iced Americano and observed as we did. We
 5

always joked that it was the psychology student in her, but whenever she did speak up, it was

like a breath of fresh air.

“I think it's about the school you are from and how they approach the curriculum. They

probably sacrifice fun in order to teach what they think you need in college. I read this

article ‘It's Not the High School Teachers' Fault: An Alternative to the Blame Game’ by

author Peter Kittle about how high school curriculum is determined by a board and they

don’t really consult with colleges about it,”

We all couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Athena was a shining bulb of light whenever she

spoke.

“Same here I read this article ‘Am I a Liar? The Angst of a High School English

Teacher,’ by author Jeanette Jordan. It talked about how some students take away what

they learned in high school and some don’t. It is really dependent on the student. I think

it’s okay to sacrifice the fun of reading if we are learning something from it,” Dara stated.

“Hey, can we really just shift the blame on to schools. Look, I get it, essay writing and

reading can get tedious, but I don’t think it’s totally just because of the assignments. This

article ‘Frustration and Hope: Examining Students’ Emotional Responses to Reading,’

says that our approach to reading really depends on our emotions. If we come in with a

negative attitude, we are going to get negative results.” Amber refuted

I could understand where she was coming from. We all don’t approach reading and writing with

the same attitude. Some with open and some not. And when we don’t we might not get most of

the benefits we could possibly get.

 6

“But let’s not forget there is such a big difference in highschool and college writing. I

also saw this article called ‘The Truth about High School English,’ author Milka Mosley,

where they talked about how different the two are. High school writing is formulaic with

the five paragraph structure because it allows teachers to grade essays easier, but college

writing is more free and shows individuality. I think they should do better and

communicate better with colleges because we seriously can not be coming into college

with subpar writing skills when we have to write about 10 essays a year,”

Gavin had really strong opinions and usually was more direct, but since today was one of those

days where we were not debating he was less argumentative.

I was slightly glad we were on the same page about this topic. It was rare for us to agree

on something, the frequent debates were tiring but informative and reopening, but when we do

after something it was worth celebrating. It was pretty clear to me that we were all agreeing on

the fact that though school does not offer the most fun and enjoyable reads, they were important

to an extent. The curriculum offered may not be the best at preparing us for college, but that

really is dependent on the student. There will be things we take away and things we do not, but

we do learn something. I think the key to teaching writing is communication with colleges and

understanding what good writing is rather than giving structures and restrictions.

My overall conclusion is that school teaches us the basics about writing and reading.

Basics of analysis and essay writing. However, we need to improve our writing skills on our

own. School can only teach us so much. It can be true that writing gets dull but it is a good skill

to practice repeatedly. From these various articles and debates we had, we can not shift the blame

onto one side. Reading and writing skills need practice outside of school. Writing is an evolving

skill that can improve with reading, writing or even just talking.
 7

Reading allows us to use our analysis skills, and see examples of good and bad writing.

Writing puts these skills in practice, and talking can help share ideas.

The talk lasted hours into the afternoon as we sipped coffee and talked about the

possibilities of how reading and writing can be improved. We also talked about how we can

make the curriculum more fun so that students do not lose interest in reading and writing. This

Sunday was truly casual with small debates but in the end agreement. I was glad we ended our

“debate” with agreement and head nods rather than yelling and interruptions. Maybe this was a

topic all of us could agree on. Learning to read and write is subjective.
8
 9

References
McBride, M., & Sweeney, M. A. (2019). Frustration and Hope: Examining Students’ Emotional
Responses to Reading. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/jbw/v38n2/mcbride.pdf.
:

Kittle, Peter. “It's Not the High School Teachers' Fault: An Alternative to the Blame Game.”
Sullivan, Patrick, & Howard Tinberg (Eds.). (2006). What is "College-Level" Writing? National
Council of Teachers of English. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/ncte/collegelevel/

JEANETTE JORDAN, WITH KARENA K. NELSON, HOWARD CLAUSER, SUSAN E.

ALBERT, KAREN M. CUNNINGHAM, AND AMA?'-IDA SCHOLZ, “Am I a Liar,” Sullivan,
Patrick, & Howard Tinberg (Eds.). (2006). What is "College-Level" Writing? National Council
of Teachers of English. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/ncte/collegelevel/

MILKA MUSTENIKOVA MOSLEY, “The Truth About High School English.”Sullivan,

Patrick, & Howard Tinberg (Eds.). (2006). What is "College-Level" Writing? National Council
of Teachers of English. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/ncte/collegelevel/