WRITING ISN'T A PUNISHMENT

So Let's Stop Using It As One

It's happened again: Another person has been given a writing
assignment as punishment.

Recently, a judge in Nevada ordered a 25-year-old male drug offender
to write a report on "the nonsensical character" of California's
medical-marijuana program. The offender was arrested outside a
Stateline casino after selling pot to an informant.

Why didn't the judge have the young man read a book on medical
marijuana or complete mathematical problems computing statistics
pertaining to medical-marijuana users? Why should writing a report-or
writing in any form-be a punishment? What does that teach people about writing?

In the writing classes I teach at Butte College, students often show
up exhibiting all manner of what I call "writing trauma." They've
been taught to loathe an activity they probably loved as
kindergarteners, when they first grasped pencils with chubby hands
and scrawled the letters of their names.

Over time, they've lost their original zest for the written word.
Throughout years of education, they've had to write sentences,
essays, reports, and all manner of other assignments-all in the name
of "discipline."

Besides having to endure writing punishments, students often are
expected to write about subjects they don't care about and take
positions (in writing) on issues with which they don't agree. How
quickly we kill a person's natural passion for learning and, yes,
writing. But then, we manage to quash children's natural delight in
many activities that are their birthright: dancing, art-making,
daydreaming and much more.

Not long ago I had the pleasure of observing author Karen Benke lead
a workshop at Lyon Books in downtown Chico. The children in the
workshop were a little reluctant to write at first, and when they did
finally write, they were hesitant to share their writing. As Benke
brought more and more magic and fun into the writing process,
however, these children lit up and really began to pen some laudable
masterpieces. Writing was a gift to experience, an exhilaration to
behold-not a punishment to suffer, not a pastime to despise.

I can only shudder when I think of the number of times that, across
the nation (and beyond) this school year, writing will be used as a
punishment. Administrators, teachers, parents, and yes, even judges,
hear my plea: Cease to use writing as a punishment. My job is hard
enough without having students arrive in my class with an almost
visceral hatred for writing.