Writing, is a vital aspect of our daily lives and it is something taught to us as soon as we step into the front doors of school, what would happen if we were denied our right to write in our free time? One thing for certain is it wouldn’t have a positive effect of the public, comprehension of the craft would dwindle to a dead pulse and the students would lose important skills and become uninterested in creating something of their own free will. This means all of our writing suffers from this, our school work becomes the catalyst of failure and our downfall. If we are denied the right to write we are denied the motivation to go beyond what the world gives us, the world becomes a grey tomb of monotony and mediocrity.

It is a known fact that students gain more of an appreciation for reading and comprehension if they write, allowing a better understanding of grammar to bloom from the emptiness of the human subconscious, Teaching many to choose word choice wisely and absorb the information of any text. Along with that benefit, writing is proved to help with learning strategies and maintain a sharpness with wit and age. Book or learning text, the messages or meaning behind them will be lost if there is no interest or devotion to the art of writing. A major example for this is study hall. An open period set aside to either unwind or study for the next class. Let’s say a student literally has no work to do, they are passing all their classes and the don’t feel like reading. Wouldn’t a reasonable thing to do be to write? Perhaps the student has had a rough day and writing about their thoughts or feelings would help benefit them in the long run? It is proven that writing can help with emotional issues and private thoughts one may not be able to speak out or feel comfortable with sharing verbally. It is also proven that writing about your issues could help heal a person faster say New Zealand researchers that found by writing about a traumatic event helps one cope and gain strength both physically and emotionally, reported by TIME magazine.

Along with that study the BJPsych Advances group states that expressive writing helps with- Blood pressure, improved lung and liver functions, less doctor visits about stress, improved immune system functions, improved mood/ attitude. And socially the student will have a higher GPA average, improved work memory, better sports performances,and altered social and linguistic behaviors- just to name a few benefits of writing.

Study hall can be a cold and empty 43 minutes if you have nothing to do, and there are plenty of times where a student will sit idle for those seemingly endless minutes, doing nothing except watch the clock. And with all due respect, if a student isn’t in the mood to read or is stuck with a book of no interest- they won’t take the time to let everything they are reading sink in, all knowledge will bounce away and be dragged into the case of forgotten memories, unable to be brought up or used by the students when needed. Understandably I can already hear the buzzing of several members of the school board and staff thinking about people who are on the F.I.W list, and worrying that this will only cause more problems than solve- but I bring this topic up, the children who are indeed on the list are taken to a separate room away from their peers to work on classes they are on the list for. Building themselves back up to a passing grade, If those students are already working, then they won’t be reading either- leaving them out of the argument of ‘If students should be able to write in study hall’

Without writing the foundation of which our society is built upon. And without the foundation of our society we devolve into a state of barbarism- the faculty of ADM preaches to us the importance of writing and having our vocabulary construct the stories of our homework. But when will the students be able to use that new vocabulary to construct the rough draft of a novel, or a journal entry- and most importantly the story of who we are as a person and a school?

I propose that students should be allowed to write and expand their understanding of the english language, If a student isn’t working on homework or failing a class, who is anyone to say that they cannot write? Especially since there is no such rule in the student handbook stating otherwise. It is the teacher’s responsibility to help students discover who they are and grant them the tools necessary to push beyond ADM and into the real world. A student is entitled to the freedom of creation, by pen and pencil or some other media, our rights don’t shed off of us as soon as we step through the front door into the commons, if anything we should be reminded that these freedoms our own, and nothing should take them away.