Note: This is my second op/ed on Branson’s English curriculum. I write these not out of disrespect for our teachers, but out of a genuine desire to start conversations between students and teachers.

The English II unit this February and March on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of my favorite units in Branson English. From absorbing an intriguing narrative arc at home to lively reading between the lines in the classroom, the process of reading and developing opinions about the novel was riveting. However, when the English II teachers presented me with a five-paragraph analytical essay to wrap up the unit, all of my excitement about the novel faded. 

I hadn’t written any long-form assignments with creative writing elements for Branson in four months, nor had I written a solely creative piece since November of freshman year, and having to pour hours of work into another analytical essay felt like a burden rather than a chance to learn and grow. I was deprived of creative writing opportunities, and it turns out that I wasn’t the only one in the Branson community feeling this way.

This is my second op/ed on Branson’s English curriculum. I write these not out of disrespect for our teachers, but out of a genuine desire to start conversations between students and teachers.

In an anonymous, online survey, 45 Branson students (10.8 percent of the student body) answered this question: “Do you prefer analytical writing or creative writing?”, and 77.8 percent indicated that they preferred creative writing. However, only 20 percent of formal, graded writing assignments at Branson assigned to the sophomore class have been classified as creative writing.

Even when I added in assignments where students were expected to use both creative and analytical tactics, the total stayed at a measly 33.3 percent of all graded writing assignments in my two years of English. That means that 66.7 percent of my Branson English writing assignments have been assigned for the purpose of analytical writing. 

These percentages expose a clear disconnect between Branson student writing preferences and what is being taught in underclassmen English classes. In fact, the Branson underclassmen revealed their own discontent with this lack of creative writing.

The survey also found that 78.6 percent of the underclassmen and 76.5 percent of the upperclassmen preferred creative writing, nearly identical rates. However, when asked the question: “Would you like to see more creative writing assignments in your English class?”, 92.9 percent of underclassmen said “Yes” while only 82.4 percent of upperclassmen said “Yes.” 

These notable differences reveal that despite similar creative and analytical writing preferences, underclassmen in particular want to see more creative writing assignments in their English classes, revealing a lack of creative writing in underclassmen English.

In addition, frequent creative writing provides numerous benefits to students’ written and interpersonal human expression. However, through structuring the majority of writing assignments analytically, the English department is missing the opportunity to foster and develop these benefits within the student body. 

For example, Arts Academy in the Woods, a middle and high school in Michigan, states that “one of the greatest values of creative writing is the ability to find one’s voice,” which I strongly agree with. 

When someone writes creatively, they are able to write in a method and structure that is more natural to them, helping them develop their own writing voice and making their writing distinct from others. However, the overly repetitive structure of analytical writing, which commands everything from the flow of body paragraphs to specific verbs to use when analyzing a quote, forces everyone’s voice into the same structure. 

While analytical writing is helpful for crafting arguments, it often supersedes a human’s unique writing voice. However, this voice is what often adds that beautifully real and emotive quality to writing, and substituting that for analytical expertise can take away the human identity from a written piece. Because of this, it is critical to keep creative writing in the curriculum while moderating the analytical focus to maintain one’s writing voice and their ability to share that voice with others. 

Overall, student preferences, teacher preferences and the known benefits of creative writing should receive equal consideration when English teachers structure their underclassmen curriculum. 

One idea I have to foster collaboration between student and teacher preferences is for English teachers to meet with a small group of rising upperclassmen to discuss how to balance analytical and creative writing in English I and II. At this meeting, teachers can explain how their English expertise helped determine their choices for the underclassmen English curriculum and rising upperclassmen can express their experience in English I and II and their suggestions for incorporating more creative writing into the curriculum. 

This meeting would benefit both groups, allowing students to express their perspectives on creative writing in the English department and for English teachers to understand the student perspective to foster a more student-informed English curriculum for future Branson students. After all, if students are asking for more creative writing opportunities, English teachers owe it to them to understand why.