Review on Yagelski

After reading Yagelski, there were many aspects that I found interesting. As a creative writing major, that was where I feel I had a for lack of a better word 'problem' with Yagelski's views. I believe that writing is a crucial aspect in life. Writing, whether you enjoy it or not is a vessel that allows for an individual to express themselves and to essentially find themselves. In writing one is given free reign to explore the world and describe it as they see it. Writing allows for one to be given a voice when they feel no one is listening, to not fear persecution by peers for being "different".
Yagelski views writing as an academic necessity, which in part I agree with. In being a vital part of society it is crucial to be able to write. Whether it be in a professional setting or social media--writing is a part of life. However, where I disagree is with the new Common Core. Yagelski discusses the texts that are suppose to be taught in classrooms for the sole purpose of instilling a specific type of writing. While format in writing is important, I have always believed that the joy of writing comes from the liberty to write for pleasure and to give a voice to a subject manner. If students are only expected to read specific novels and only write in a specific manner, doesn't that defeat the purpose of writing? Don't authors write for the joy of having their story be heard and resonate with the reader? If we limit the type of writing students are allowed to produce, I believe that essentially we are failing the students in the point of what literature is. We are ridding them of the joy in exploring a world entirely separate form their own. Perhaps that's the writer in me who feels so strongly in this, but even the English teacher in me believes that literature goes far beyond what is just there in print. To quote a line from the novel The Book Thief "words are life," and limiting their writing is limiting the words to describe their life and the evolution of their words.
--Britt