Sometimes, you have to take a class because “you have to.” It’s required for your major, but maybe you’re lucky, and your school allows you to pick one from a few options. So, you pick the one that looks the easiest and fits your schedule. It has good enough reviews on Rate My Professor, and the grade distribution looks okay. You might not even care what the class actually is; you really just want that easy A, and this class looks like you can get it.
Mine is at 10:15 on Mondays and Wednesdays and is needed for my English minor. I thought, “Oh well, just another waste of time class so I can graduate.” And, while I do find a lot of the in-class activities a waste of time, the content I am learning is actually really reflective.
On the first day of class, we were instructed to have our own copy of Best American Essays 2024. We had to read multiple essays a week from this book and discuss our thoughts in class. I’ll admit, I often skim readings for classes or put little thought into what I’m reading. However, while I didn’t particularly like every essay we read, the unique style choices the authors made taught me a lot.
I hadn’t realized how free you can be with your writing. For example, one essay started every sentence with the word because. And, it was literally a Best American Essay. I feel like a lot of my educational experience has been very structured, and it’s nice to realize it doesn’t have to be that way. In the real world, an intro with a thesis, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion is kind of boring. Using different style choices in your writing is what makes what you write fun and interesting.
A style choice can change the entire emotional effect of your writing. It’s hard to portray sarcasm or irony in writing because the reader can’t hear how the words are supposed to sound. Analyzing style helped me understand different writing choices and the different effects they have on an audience.
We also got to analyze style choices we noticed in real life. Each student gave a presentation at some point during the semester, analyzing a style choice from a movie, social media, reality television, or something else. One student even analyzed the use of emojis.
It’s nice to finish a class and realize how much you’ll actually use what you learned. Because I’m now more aware of style choices, I hope to be more intentional about my own writing style and communicate more effectively with my readers.
So, the next time you have to take a required class, maybe take a moment to think about what you might actually learn from it. You might learn a lot.