Should Schools Have Uniforms?
Who cares? And who would want to write about this topic besides the five people who are interested in it?
I speak from my own experience, so forgive me from chiming in. I was only able to mature as a writing teacher when I moved into the independent school sector, which doesn't do the state test thing. When you're free from the pressure of having to train kids for these inauthentic writing experiences (timed persuasive essays on topics they don't care about, for example), then you can develop the real relationships with kids and with texts and topics that motivate kids to write for audiences and take ownership.
Where the hell have you ever seen a compare and contrast essay in the real world? I'm all for schools offering rich writing instruction--- I just think that the testing movement has standardized and dumbed down the kind of
