Aside from the brief era in elementary school where I believed myself to be destined for the political stage, I have always known that I wanted to be an English major. While I do admit that majoring in English is a sort of fraught family tradition, English has always been my great love as a voracious reader and an occasional writer. Inevitably, English is my favorite subject at Marlborough especially when it features creative assignments such as Write-Like-Holden or Write-Like-Brontë where we were told to write a piece using the voice of either Holden Caufield or Charlotte Brontë.
However, as I have risen through grades, I have noticed the amount of creative writing in English classes has substantially decreased. While I do appreciate and recognize that the English curriculum has included some creative writing through the aforementioned projects and others, it is undeniable that the amount of analytical writing has increased compared to creative writing.
While I understand the necessity of this type of essay and practicing developing an argument through using evidence and analysis, I am not inspired by such writing.
While there are many different forms of writing other than analytical such as lyrical, playwriting, autobiographical and more that I am interested in, there are very few options given to actually study these other forms at Marlborough, especially compared to the number of classes and extracurriculars offered related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. English classes from grades 7 to 11 do feature short stories, plays, poems and novels, but I am rarely given the opportunity to try utilizing these different forms of creative writing.
As a person who harbors the knowingly unattainable but still desired dream of working as a creative writer, just practicing writing an essay does not encourage or assist me in improving my skills. The classes that I have taken over the summer in creative writing have been beneficial, but I wish for more opportunities that would allow me and other students with similar interests to practice creative writing here at Marlborough. I know that there was a creative writing elective offered to seniors and juniors that petered out around three years ago, but I do think that if there is found to be enough interest in such a course among the students, I would love for it to be revived. Otherwise, I feel that there should be increased opportunities to practice creative writing within English classes.
