Why the Five-Paragraph Essay Should Be Removed from Our Higher Education Schools

In my high school, there is a process through which all students must go twice every year in every class: writing a 25-sentance, five-paragrah essay (in order that the school may receive accreditation from Northstar). For me, that constituted writing one fourteen times a year, and by my sophomore year, I had gotten thouroughly tired of it.

In most of my classes, my teacher would give the students a specific topic on which to write, but a few left it open-ended: we could write about whatever we liked. I saw an opportunity there to make a point, and from that grew the seeds for the following essay.

In addition to making a point on my disgust for the five-paragraph essay writing process, I wnted to introduce some irony: writing the essay in a 25 sentance five-paragraph format. All teachers required that there be EXACTLY 25 sentances and 5 paragraphs, no more, no fewer. ( Can you imagine how painfully restrictive that must have been, not just for me, but for all other stuents who had to go through the same ordeal? Quite a few times I had to create more "fluff" sentaces to fulfill the requirement, as I usually made my point in just a few sentances, however longwinded.)

After reading my essay, some of you might make the comment that, having written my essay in the format which I attacked, I disproved my own point. I would counter that, however, with the opinion that I had been educated well enough in my home-schooling years to be able to survive the stifling effects of the school system and the five-paragraph essay and instead, created a humerous irony out of the whole situation.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed creating it!

And, as always, I would love to hear your reponses.


--Xi Hyperon

WHY THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM OUR HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOOLS

Before I entered my high school, I had never heard of the five-paragraph essay system. Whenever I would write an essay, I would simply compose my thoughts in a logical, sensible format. Because I was not restricted to five paragraphs, my essays would frequently be quite long. Now that I have been writing in this new format for two years, however, it has become evident to me why I had never before had to write in this format: it is simply inferior. Although this more structured format provides a basic frame for the student writer’s composition, it also presents some potentially very serious problems.

Many schools across the country have instituted the ever more popular “five-paragraph essay” writing system. It’s found in most high schools and even some middle schools, and most educators believe that it benefits the students by establishing a set structural format for the students’ essays. They believe it to be a structural format that guides young writers while they compose their essay. It provides a specified format that lends itself to a specific elementary train of thought. Although this format may be beneficial to the younger or brain-fogged student, once they reach a more advanced level of thought and capability, specifically in the later high school years, this essay format becomes quite restrictive.

Having to reduce ones thoughts to “fit inside the box” of the five-paragraph essay is seen as unimportant to some schools, and simply as a side-effect of correct, recognizable essay format. This is probably the most damaging concept to the school age writer, whose developing mind and intellect need to be fostered and gently guided, not forced to comply with some nationalized mainstream essay format. In a five-paragraph essay, appearance and organization of the content is more important than the content itself. Five paragraphs, with the first and last playing specialized roles, each with five sentences, are all that is to consist of an “A grade” paper. Often, the lack of thought, intelligence, and even grammatical correctness is overlooked and often condoned in search of the perfectly indented and 25-sentenced – five-paragraph essay.

In following this format, much repetition is encouraged, with the same ideas appearing in many of the paragraphs. Teachers are encouraged to grade format rather than content. Interestingly enough, many of the schools using this format as their standard claim that they are simply guiding the young writer into a format that best suits their abilities and is simply establishing a format that is preferred in today’s society. However, most magazines, newspapers, book reports, and even college essays are not squished and cramped into following this format. No real support has been given to the five-paragraph essay as being the preferred format of colleges, or even in the workplace.

It is apparent that nowhere other than in youth education is this format encouraged. Thus, the entire concept of the five-paragraph essay is detrimental to today’s students. Although it provides some guidance for the beginning writer, carrying its use into high school levels is simply hampering the great minds of tomorrow. In these essays, the form generates the content; the emphasis on the format and organization far outweighs the small importance of the content of the essay. If we are to let the youth of today; our leaders of tomorrow, exercise their intellect to their full potential and to not let their thoughts be contained by some less intelligent school board officials, we must rid our higher education schools of the insistent use of this despicable and detrimental practice: the use of the five paragraph essay.