“As there is no standard human type who writes essays, so is there no standardessay; no set style, length, or subject. But what does unite almost all
successful essays, no matter how divergent the subject, is that a strong
personal presence is felt behind them. This is so even if the essayist never
comes out to tell you his view of the matter being discussed, never attempts
directly to assert his personality, never even slips into the first person
singular. Without that strong personal presence, the essay doesn’t quite exist;
it becomes an article, a piece, or some other indefinable verbal construction.
Even when the subject seems a distant and impersonal one, the self of the writer
is in good part what the essay is about. “
-Joseph Epstein in “No Standard
Essay”
Epstein‘s “No Standard Essay” is a huge victory for all high school students everywhere. Students are shoved into the set five paragraph mold, suffocating in normalcy. There’s no room for creativity or experimentation. Each essay is exactly like the one before and exactly like the one after. There’s no way to tell one from another. This makes it easy to grade. The essay is either a clear right, or a clear wrong with no room for error. Students across America are slowly losing their creativity, their voice, their passion, their own thoughts and ideas.
If only these teachers had read this passage. It’s clear that no person is the same as any other, even twins have different personality traits, why then should all essays be the same? What many high school essays lack is that sense of the author. A reader should be able to know the authors personality, ideas, views, and values just from reading the text. The author should be present in every word on the page. That’s not to say the author needs to blatantly announce how they feel about every topic. It’s in the words they use, the way they shape and form their thoughts, the way they lead the reader.
Without that voice, that personal touch only the author can give, the essay turns into a factory made mold. It becomes uninteresting and heartless. How is the reader supposed to connect with the piece? Readers want to feel the essay is speaking to them personally. Like the piece was written for him or her alone. The author’s voice gives the essay a soul, a heartbeat, a breath. Suddenly it’s not just an essay anymore; it’s a living breathing part of the author himself. This is, without a doubt, the most important part of the essay.
