A Warning To Public Schools That Refuse To Teach Creative Writing

Recently I proposed on a local Facebook page that the public school system offer a creative writing program or a creative writing extracurricular. 

I was merely spitballing ideas that have percolated in my head for about a year now. I hesitated to post it, fearing major pushback.

Instead I was shocked by the overwhelming support my post received. 

I was looking out for the more introverted kids. These are the kids who, like me, love to write and feel more comfortable at a Comic Con, a Star Trek convention, a book fair or a bookstore than they do at a football or baseball game. 

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I see too many kids like this across the country who have zero extracurricular options in a public school because almost everything is sports or music oriented. Many of these children and teens may lack effective coping skills for life’s many challenges. 

They may lack self-esteem. They may have certain skill sets but no real opportunities to develop them. And this is the period of their lives when they most need something to keep their morale up. Too many of these kids grow up and make terrible choices because they lack anything constructive to latch onto. 

I believe these overlooked kids don’t understand their purpose in life and would benefit greatly from these programs. Without something to focus their minds, they fall into alcohol or drugs or a life of low self-esteem, or they harm themselves or maybe others. Life doesn’t have to be that way for them. And public schools have done those kids a tremendous disservice.

I think the biggest news from my post was learning that my public high school offered such a program in the 1970s and 1980s before dropping it by the time I showed up. The reasons are unknown. At least one published book author and local journalist who is about 15 years older than me told me that that program instilled his love of writing.

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I’ll never stop pushing public high schools to offer more creative writing courses and creative writing extracurriculars (even though my efforts thus far have met with zero success). 

Of course, some public-school systems either cannot afford to offer these types of programs or just flat out don’t care to invest their time and energies into them. If that’s true, that makes the case for school choice all the more powerful. 

Proponents of school choice argue that children need schools that fit their personal and academic needs. And if public schools aren’t catering to an individual child’s specific needs, then frankly, this is yet another argument that school choice proponents can latch onto. 

And I suggest they do so. 

For the sake of the students, the public schools need the competition. 

Warhammer is a journalist with more than 20 years or professional experience. Follow Warhammer on Twitter @Real_Warhammer.