Although I hope that he never reads this, I have no particular qualms in saying plainly that I found my geography teacher when I was studying for my GCSEs particularly unimpressive. Perhaps this opinion is a product of the schoolboy arrogance with which I was embarrassingly imbued at the age of 16, but, nevertheless, I remember him telling me something of lasting importance only once. Whilst we were preparing our coursework one day, he projected the following diagram of ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ up onto the board:

 

 

“As you can see, boys,” he explained, “contrary to what may be expected, knowledge is actually the lowest learning objective there is. It is right at the bottom… Isaac.”

I was not expecting such a direct address at that precise moment, but I suppose it was well-deserved. As a pretentious, garrulous and cocky lad with a born-to-the-top-of-the-class attitude and an above-average fact retention rate, I was constantly on the verge of spewing out everything I knew in every which way at every moment possible. Memory of my external response eludes me, but I recall feeling inside that I had been taken down a fair few pegs.

Admittedly, for all of his mediocrities, my geography teacher was completely right about the relative importance of knowledge. The common adage that “knowledge is power” is little more than a perfidious truism that leads invariably to the frustration of plans and the failure to achieve objectives. Knowledge is necessary for power— at least in its noble, benevolent and sustainable incarnation— but it is not sufficient. Simply throwing all manner of facts and figures around without organisation and coherence makes one look like a haughty know-it-all at best and an uncharismatic, pseudointellectual shyster at worst.

To borrow a little from Bloom’s Taxonomy, the real ‘power’ lies not intrinsically within the knowledge itself, but in how it is organised, analysed, evaluated and presented. It is when knowledge is charged with something beyond itself through apposition with exposition, explanation and inference within a clear, logical and inspiring format that it becomes something to be revered by the righteous and feared by the malfeasant. At that point, and only at that point, knowledge can dispel the clouds of obfuscation and the treacherous gloom of falsehood. Such a feat requires patient practice to hone all of the vital skills for this task, not least the correct application of argumentation and rhetorical flourish. It is to the attainment of this purpose, one that proves paramount in all areas of professional life from education to law to politics to journalism to business, that essay writing classes are so conducive. Essay writing is far from just a glorified exercise in improving spelling and grammar, and to treat it as such is to contemptuously underappreciate its potential.

That is why Studio’s essay writing courses do not involve themselves with the banal and the personal by setting questions or topic such as “What is my favourite movie?” or “A time when I overcame a challenge.” for which the students presumably have all the information ready before they enter the classroom. With those sorts of exercises, the five days would turn the classroom into little more than a pedantic and uninspiring draft-writing hothouse tiresome for both staff and students. Instead, our classes present students with topics with which they are likely to be relative unacquainted. Mr Dietrich’s class will explore the role of fire in the evolution of humankind, whilst Mr Mino’s will examine the semiotics and semantics of terrorism. Mr Harlan’s class will investigate gender norms in Elizabethan England through a critical analysis of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. As for myself, my students will consider the impact of the Council of Nicaea on European history. None of these subject matters is taught in conventional middle or high school curricula. Therefore, even before the students commit pen to paper for the first time, they will have to have ingested and organised a considerable volume of facts, theories, names and terms in a relatively short amount of time. More importantly, when then presented with the essay question, they will have to engage with the considerable task of sifting through all of the newly-acquired information in order to assess which elements of it are relevant to the enquiry at hand. This intellectual process is one of the most important aspects of the essay writing course, because it cultivates the student’s ability to make independent judgments about what it is important ‘to know’ as opposed to blindly learning everything by rote and then regurgitating it unconvincingly.

Furthermore, once information and data has been organised, conclusions drawn, drafts crafted and final copies perfected, the culminating element of the week’s work is a presentation of the essay in front of the class, teacher and any parents who might wish to attend. Many students baulk at this requirement and suffer from ‘stage fright’. Nevertheless, clear and persuasive public speaking is another integral part of the professional life and can be a decisive factor in the fulfilment of one’s personal and career objectives—we at Studio think it better that whatever fears the student may have are overcome at an early age to leave the greatest span of time possible open for self-improvement. Knowledge, as my old geography clearly was wont to tell obstreperous young whippersnappers like myself aged 16, is only the first step to winning the argument. It is placed correctly at the very elementary stages of such an important process. When participating in the Studio essay writing programme, although knowledge is still valued and regarded as the fundamental basis of the intellectual life, students are empowered to use it in such a way that boosts their capabilities in independent thought, creativity and the expression of ideas.

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