The Importance Of Non-Academic Themes

Students have written different types of essays throughout their school years. Most essays, school related content was involved. Now, some have argued that students should not be limited to writing academic topics and be open to non-academic topics such as sports, food, or movies. Imagine the freedom of writing about non-academic topics. How would you feel? Well, giving students the ability to write non-academic topics can be enjoyable, but students should not be allowed to use non-academic topics in college because this does not challenge them to grow as writers nor will they learn anything new. There are many reasons why writing non-academic topics is not beneficial to students. Writing about non-academic topics is unprofessional and it …show more content…
The content they write about can be hard to understand. Having too much freedom can make it difficult for readers to understand the point they are trying to make. In “Hidden Intellectualism”, Graff states “Sports is only one of the domains whose potential for literacy training is seriously underestimated by educators, who see sports as competing with academic development rather than a route to it.”(249) Non-academic topics are not for every student, therefore this point is invalid. There are many students who learn well with academic topics and do very well in school even though they are in sports. The content and information “sports” offers to students vary differently. Some may or may not be interested. This goes for every other non-academic topics. At the end Graff says, “Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a lifeless explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology.”(251) Again, as said before not every student will be able to write “sharply” and clearly. Essay’s will vary and some will be well written, some may be just plain bad. Whereas writing about Hamlet or Socrates’, you learn new language and important morals that the book offers. There is a lesson learned and new content …show more content…
Writing about one’s own experiences or interests does not prepare students for more important assignments later on in college. In Dweck’s article, “The Perils and Promises of Praise”, she describes two mindsets, “growth” and “fixed”. According to Dweck, “in the fixed mindset, students care first and foremost about how they’ll be judged:smart or not smart.”(34-39) This mindset applies to students who are struggling to write academic topics but do nothing about it. They want to write non-academic topics that do not challenge them to grow as writers, running away from their problems. Another point Dweck mentions about “fixed mindset” is, “students with this mind-set reject opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes. When they do make mistakes or reveal deficiencies, rather than correct them, they try to hide them.”(34-39) Challenging essays are intimidating, but offer a lot of opportunities to improve your writing, which is what student’s with a fixed mindset do not see. An example of “growth mindset” Dweck says, “ Let’s look at another student-one who has a growth mindset-having her first encounter with algebra. She finds it new, hard, and confusing….. But she’s determined to understand it.”(34-39)The student’s with a growth mindset are the one’s who are willing to dedicate time and try to figure out the essay, even though it is confusing, they make the effort to