Ten Things People Often Forget When They Talk About English Composition

The title of this post is, I think, fairly self-explanatory--so without further ado let us get on with the list it promises, the items in which, I think, are also fairly self-explanatory.

1. Writing is a Skill.

2. Academic Writing is About Content First and Foremost, Not Form, with the Premium on Being Able to Communicate Clearly--Especially if the Subject Matter is Complex.

3. Form is Not Reducible to Formulas. (You Actually Have to Exercise Judgment in Their Use.)

4. You Can't Write Well Unless You Can Read Well.

5. General Knowledge Matters. (You Actually Need Knowledge of the World to Get the Most Out of What You Read.)

6. Don't Underestimate the Importance of the Reading That We Don't Do in School.

7. You Can't Write Well Unless You Can Actually Think.

8. You Can't Write Well Unless You Have Some Interest in What You Are Writing (and Therefore Thinking) About.

9. You (Probably) Won't Learn if You Think You Have Nothing to Learn.

10. You Can't Expect a Couple of Semesters of Writing Class to Completely Make Up for a Very Weak K-12 Training in the Relevant Skills.

Ignoring these ten not terribly convenient truths leaves the problematic remedy for the very serious problem of the actual average level of college students' writing skills even less effective than would otherwise be the case--and ignoring them is pretty much all that anyone seems to do in regard to them.