Abstract
An Tran is a double major in finance and psychology from Boston, MA. An notes that she came from an “underfunded elementary school” where “the curriculum has been rooted in standardized tests, and preparing for them in order to bring in funding.” Given that, she argues that “our value, as students, has become less about the investment of an upcoming generation and more about how much money we could bring in from our test scores.” An notes that the five-paragraph essay “is a core component of this pattern, and it hinders students from truly learning the craft of writing.” She writes leaving behind the five-paragraph essay structure was freeing, and that she “wasn’t suffocated and forced into a mold or to write in a certain way.” An is passionate about people: she loves writing to create an experience for someone else and to bridge a connection with others. An also writes poems for others in Boston Common in her free time.
Recommended Citation
Tran, An
(2023)
"The Case Against the Five-Paragraph Essay,"
Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition: Vol. 3:
Iss.
2, Article 10.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/undercurrents/vol3/iss2/10
Included in
Creative Writing Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons