ProfessorD - AP and dual enrollment are supposed to be college level classes, so why are the teachers focusing on simplistic high school level writing?
“Supposed to be”
The problem here is with the AP curriculum itself. It cannot actually give students the experience of actual college level work. Almost by definition, the students are not ready for it, because they have not yet completed their work at the high school level.
And “simplistic” is, itself, an oversimplification. The five paragraph essay is a perfectly functional form, and a useful way to teach a number of sound principles which carry over to other, more complex essay structures. Sometimes, the five paragraph essay is exactly the right response to a prompt. Like all writing, the trick is knowing when to use the rules, and went to throw them out the window. And that only comes with time, good instruction, and exposure to many types of writing.
The 5 paragraph essay may be good for the writing section of standardized tests, not for the CA.
When I was a scorer for the SAT, we were specifically told that the five paragraph essay was not required, and the failure of a student to use it could not be part of the scoring.
I agree with the statement that AP classes cannot give students the real experience of a college-level class. My issue is with teachers who insisted that this was the only way to write an essay when they should have been helping the students (who theoretically should be up to the challenge) develop their writing skills into the type of writing that will be required in college. This approach seemed short-sighted at best and at worst hindered the students’ development as writers.
Reminds me of the infamous two-column proof taught in many geometry classes.
You learn the mostly-useless stuff first, then once you’re ready to write more intricate, detailed essays or mathematical proofs, you abandon the elementary methods (at least I hope).
I agree with @daboss555 that it reduces expression in favor of consistency. But colleges do still use the formula.
This is because professors are busy. They don’t have time to adjust to a new paradigm for each of the hundreds of papers they need to grade every month. It’s most efficient for them to just understand the thesis from the topic sentences and then see if the evidence sentences correspond and then check the sources.
As with so many things in life, you’ve got to start somewhere.
The most logical way to begin teaching to write is the 5 paragraph essay. It gives kids a starting place, a formula they can follow until they get the hang of writing.
Once you get the basics down, the expectation is that you’ll abandon that basic framework and move on to a framework that better fits each individual assignment.
But you’ve got to walk before you can run.
And, as others have mentioned, I’m not sure what this has to do with a College Essay.
This is interesting. I wondered about this. D just finished her freshman English class at a CC. The entire structure of the class was to get them to write a 5 to 8 page paper written in the 5 paragraph form. The paragraphs ended up having to be way too long and I didn’t think this was the best way to teach freshman English. Oh well, this child is not one going to a competitive college (if she ever finishes school) so I guess I’m just going to be happy she finished her first college class with a B.
Fall back on yes. Another way of looking at it, is that the 5 paragraph essay is a starting place. It’s meant to help give an intro to writing about how to convey one’s claim or assertion and then back it up with evidence while using paragraphs to lend cohesiveness to ideas. It’s not known to be the be all and end all. There are better tips for how to write the college essay. I think the Harry Bauld book was mentioned…you know the start it off with a grabber opening, etc. And of course, scientific paper writing is very different. My college frosh had to adopt her writing style from writing English analytic papers to Psychology papers which are more about explaining studies where you highlight the opening of each paragraph that gives the headline of the paper etc. Interesting that you have to find the ideal format for each piece of writing per discipline.