Essay Week 9: Writing Experiences

High School and College Writing Experience

When the topic of writing is addressed, for some reason I feel like I was a better writer in high school. I know this is very opposite of what most people would think to be the case but for my situation I find it to be true.

In high school they teach you a very basic format for writing, and from there your creativity can go wild. However, for most of the classes I have taken in college, they want the writing to be very formal and stiff. Part of this may be because I am a journalism major, however, even in the literature classes that I took they want more factual evidence than thoughts to be written.

What I liked about the writing in high school is that I was able to draw conclusions from things and expand my thoughts. Critical thinking. This was where I found most of the creativity to come from. I loved getting to do this and I felt like the writing was more conversational using this style.

The writing in high school may have been more creative because that was the purpose of the papers. The teachers wanted to determine if you had critically thought about the material and fully understood it. The papers in college are more about did you do enough research to back up your overall thesis. Yes, you must use critical thinking in your college papers, however, I have found them to be more research based.

In my public relations major it is imperative to use both facts and creativity in your writing. Being able to report the facts in an exciting manor is essential for PR writing. I feel like the creativity of my high school writing would have allowed for me to do this well. However, the tools I have learned in college have given me the ability to expand my vocabulary and focus on reporting the facts. The facts are the most important in my field. I have taken several writing classes that stress this. The only issue with these classes is that the end after a semester and you don’t always get to practice them afterwards unless you do it on your own time.

I think all classes should have you apply what you learned in previous classes continuously throughout the semester. That way you never forget what you learned. I took a writing class for my major but then didn’t write anything for a year. That was just the way my classes were set up. I think they should have all of the classes flow together to a certain extent. If they do that, then by the end of your four years you will be extremely well rounded and well versed in writing. Those are just my thoughts though and it may make more sense to me than it does to others. Overall, I think my high school had me trained as a great writer and college just does things differently. Just because it is different doesn’t mean it is wrong though. I look forward to seeing how my writing abilities will expand during the next stage of my life.

 Picture of someone writing

Retrieved from Globe University