> Otherwise they just turn in a single-sentence "Slaughterhouse Five has a lot of chaos, which you can see clearly from reading the book, the end." Maybe you laugh but you will literally receive this from 9th-graders.
That essay would easily get a 0, and the student (and their peers) would learn not to try that. A student producing a single sentence instead of an essay is a different problem than a student producing an unclear essay or failing to demonstrate that they read the text, which, I think, is the point of the 5-paragraph essay.
The actual fundamentals of good writing are grammar, logic, and rhetoric. We only teach one of those (grammar) in schools, and we don't necessarily teach it well. The subjects of logic and rhetoric have largely been replaced by the "5-paragraph essay" until you reach college. That is insane to me.
Teaching 5-paragraph essays from middle school to high school is like teaching jazz by having students spend 8 years writing renaissance chorales. Writing a few renaissance chorales is probably good for jazz musicians, but spending 8 years writing them will not produce a good jazz artist.
That essay would easily get a 0, and the student (and their peers) would learn not to try that. A student producing a single sentence instead of an essay is a different problem than a student producing an unclear essay or failing to demonstrate that they read the text, which, I think, is the point of the 5-paragraph essay.
The actual fundamentals of good writing are grammar, logic, and rhetoric. We only teach one of those (grammar) in schools, and we don't necessarily teach it well. The subjects of logic and rhetoric have largely been replaced by the "5-paragraph essay" until you reach college. That is insane to me.
Teaching 5-paragraph essays from middle school to high school is like teaching jazz by having students spend 8 years writing renaissance chorales. Writing a few renaissance chorales is probably good for jazz musicians, but spending 8 years writing them will not produce a good jazz artist.