Paul Emerich's Five-Paragraph Analysis

All through our academic years we were taught how to write. Starting with elementary, when the form of writing was first introduced, it consisted of compositions with simple prompts about our weekends. Now, that there was an idea of how to write, middle school English teachers began teaching students a writing format. This format is commonly known as the five-paragraph essay, which consist of an introduction, three supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The five-paragraph essay began being strongly implemented in high school and it lead to many debates whether or not it benefited students proceeding into college. My stance leans more towards the five-paragraph format not being as beneficial to freshman in college, but it was helpful
Emerich’s blog was called “Why I Refuse to Teach the 5-Paragraph Essay” and mentioned how he was assigned an essay approximately five pages long and considering all he had been taught up to this point was the five-paragraph format was upsetting. His mindset was that he was restricted to five paragraphs on five pages so stumbling upon the discovery that he could write as many paragraphs necessary was news to him. Which is actually quite shocking considering the five-paragraph format is usually the standard in high school. Since Emerich’s teacher assigned a lengthy essay and allowed the students to write multiple paragraphs it was helpful in getting the students a hang of that strategy for college. The only downfall within the teachers’ decision was that she did not explain to her students that there was no specific outline she was expecting of them. With that small detail neglecting to be mentioned the students may not fully understand the task being asked of them, which may also lead to rambling and losing their train of thought. Another student faced the same issue as Emerich. In “The Ill Effect of the Five Paragraph Essay” written by Kimberly Wesley, Wesley explained that there was an assigned essay of five-to-seven pages long. The student, mentioned by Wesley, had difficulties comprehending how to incorporate
“Closing the Gap between High School Writing Instruction and College Writing Expectations” states that some of the professors mentioned that their expectations have decreased over the years due to the realization that students’ knowledge was mostly based on information beneficial for their high school years. All this directing back to the determination Seo had in her teaching method and engraving one main writing style in her students’ minds. Considering the standard writing method high schools have it is understandable as to why teachers would put so much concentration on the five-paragraph essay. Additionally, it is likely that the other teachers who were against the method had put college professors stumble within their teaching lesson into consideration and have thought further into obstacles a student may encounter. The standard of an essay changes drastically as an individual becomes a freshman in college. Students are expected to know how to write different types of papers, such as research papers and response papers, and how to write in different formats. Any proper paper requiring your own input would have a minimum of three body paragraphs and then from that point the writer decides how many more paragraphs to write. In essence, college compositions differ from high school in the sense that