Response to Janadas Devan's article

Hmmm....

I'm getting a little tired staring at the computer. Last response then, I shall get going. :)

Another article that really inspired me was Janadas Devan's "Good writing is not about sticking rigidly to fixed pattern" in the Sunday Times on the 28th of October, 2007.

The response to this article was so good, Janadas followed up on it in this online article:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_182522.html

Basically, he challenged the way students are taught to write essay in the thesis-proof-conclusion model. And questioned whether this limited the student's ability to think. I will quote from him:

That is the best way to teach writing: Encourage students to think for themselves; encourage them to use their writing as a tool for thought and expression, a tool that they can use. Why would students want to learn to write well if they see no purpose in it? Insisting on the template for every occasion, for every variety of essay - way beyond the training-wheels stage - is of no aid in giving them a purpose in their writing.

Finally, let me end with a thesis statement: The purpose of 'essays' is contained in the word's etymology. The noun 'essay' derives from the Old French essai, 'trial'. Its original 16th-century meaning in English was 'an attempt, an endeavour'. The verb 'essay', meaning 'to test the quality of', 'is an alteration of assay, by association with Old French essayer: this is based on late Latin exagium 'weighing', from the base of exigere 'ascertain, weigh',' as The Oxford Dictionary Of Word Histories explains.

Essay: to weigh facts; to attempt an argument; to ascertain and probe; to place thought on trial.

The template - thesis-proof-conclusion - tends to squelch the trial phase. It encourages students to jump straight to judgments without trials. It misses the point of this extraordinary invention, the essay - a trial in writing.

I really like that: essay: to weight facts; to attempt an argument; to ascertain and probe; to place thought on trial.

To place thought on trial.

It sounds so alien to me. I really hope to read the book he recommended by Susan Horton - "Thinking Through Writing" but I have some problems. It's quite an outdated, out-of-print book, published in 1982. So I doubt if the bigger bookstores here still have it. It's not in NUS library, nor in National Library bookshelves. It's found in Singapore Polytechnic library and is borrowed till 24th Dec, and that's a bit inconvenient for me to try for. It is sold through Amazon but my Mum is unhappy as that would mean pretty costly shipping fees.

Hmmmmm...

I guess, I can wait. :) And exercise my brain in some other ways till then! :)