When I was sixteen years old, I had the pleasure of taking an Advanced Placement English course during my junior year of high school. I went into it feeling nervous, excited, and hesitant all at the same time. Unlike myself, my classmates had been privy to a far different education in literature and writing, as they had mostly been taught in the same school district, which emphasized a more challenging curriculum than the underfunded county school where I received my prior education. I had not had the pleasure of delving into literature and examining the nuances of writing like my peers. I had just gotten by, and while I had coasted through my first two years of high school, I knew this particular year was going to be different.
Thanks to the resources of The National Writing project, my teacher that year had the tools to challenge us, to push us outside our comfort zones to really tap into our own writing potential. In preparing for the Advanced Placement exam, we were writing essays in very constrained time limits, and at first, we could all agree that our writing was stifled by such limits, but as the year progressed, our instructor taught us how to keep those limits from hindering our writing. By the end of the year, we were able to churn out a complex essay in a mere twenty to thirty minutes that, in the beginning of the term, would have taken us hours.
I tell you this, not because I can write quickly, and not because it prepared me for an exam, but to show you how an instructor with the right tools and resources can push their students to the best of their abilities, to make them better writers. Sure, in the working world, I have not penned an essay in some time, but I can tell you that when I was fresh out of college, looking for a job, I had the skills to pen a resume so concise yet effectively explanatory, that I did not have trouble finding opportunity, even with the declining availability in the job market. I can also tell you that I find myself even writing for pleasure now, penning short stories in my free time.
It has been brought to my attention that The National Writing Project is under threat now, as our state and national governments are slicing funds towards education from every direction. I ask you this, how much is enough? Will it be enough when the future generations of Americans cannot link together a paragraph? Will it be enough when we, as a nation, can no longer compete on a global scale? I live in a state that is almost always on the bottom of every list regarding education, and it is definitely not something I am proud to say, but can you imagine being on the bottom of the global list in education? These cuts are taking place with no regard for the future of the American educational system. Our future generations are being punished for monetary mistakes that have nothing to do with our nation’s schools. Why must the tools and resources that have guided past generations of students into success be withdrawn for our nation’s youth?
Honestly, I shudder to think what kind of educational environment to which my future children will have access. I was lucky enough to have educators in my upbringing who challenged me, and who had the tools available to them to push me towards a brighter future. What will my children have to say about their education? I want so much to one day hear them come home and tell me about an experience they had where a teacher presented them with a challenge, and to hear them talk about rising to meet it, just as I did that year. The National Writing Project is a valuable tool for our nation’s educators, and I know that I would not be writer I am today without the experience it provided me through a memorable educator. I only hope that it will not be silenced in the guise of monetary saving. Our nation’s young minds deserve the best we can give them, and I fervently hope The National Writing Project will be available to them in the future, just as it was to me.
Sincerely,
Mallory Davidson
Tupelo High School
Tupelo, Mississippi
Class of 2004
