Nobody is too good — or not good enough — to write

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Seated in a tomato-red chair in Tepper Simmons, my parents on either side of me, I remember hearing about the first-year writing requirement at Carnegie Mellon at the very beginning of my college tour in 2019. Other parents and prospective students alike sighed with relief as we were informed that no student would be forced to immerse themselves in the humanities for more than one semester. “Don’t worry,” they told us, “We won’t waste a penny of your tuition money on anything as stupid as writing. We’ll let you spend your time learning real skills, like coding.”

I furrowed my eyebrows; I was confused. In middle school, I was so very fortunate to have been taught to write by someone so skilled at both teaching and writing that it became something I did on my own all throughout high school. By the end of high school, I credited writing with some of my most important emotional experiences and greatest learning moments. “Who did these people think they were?” I thought. “We are only 18 — there is no way any of us are good enough at writing that a single class will be enough to last us the rest of our lives.” The tour continued.

As I reach the end of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, I feel as though I have the perspective to continue this argument I had in my mind on that tour day. I understand that not everyone expresses themselves in the same way, and that writing, in any language, does not come naturally to some. I also understand that not all writing classes at Carnegie Mellon — or anywhere, for that matter — are taught well. They can be tedious and boring and not foster growth, even if you are a huge fan of writing.

I don’t know how to fix this, but I do think that students would have a better experience if they were encouraged to take more, higher-level writing courses that focus on their topics of interest. For example, this year I took Narrative Medicine, where I learned how to craft creative nonfiction stories about medical issues. There are so many courses like this one offered by Dietrich College, and if students were encouraged to shift their attitude towards learning about writing, they might be able to enjoy them.

I feel so strongly that people should want to learn to write. I believe that writing is the one forum where we can practice articulating complex thoughts. When you are speaking to someone, you get one chance to say what you mean. When you write, you are given the constant opportunity to find better, smarter ways to say what you want to say. It is slower, more thoughtful. Actively practicing to write helps untangle thoughts and ideas and builds essential skills for both verbal and written communication. We should want to do this!

It’s true that we will all need to be able to write to be successful in our careers. It will be critically important, as many of us already know. But I also hope that career success is not the only thing that would motivate us to want to be good communicators. At some point in all of our lives, we will have to tell someone we love that we are sorry we hurt their feelings. We may have to raise children and bury parents. We will have to call the airline when our flight gets delayed and figure out how to get to that place we need to go. I argue that to do these things we need to actively work on articulating and representing ourselves well. It is not easy to receive bad news and know what to say. But if you’ve practiced writing down your difficult feelings, you have a bit of a head start. I think the people around us deserve that extra effort.

My “exhibit A” in support of writing comes in the form of everyone I’ve ever met at The Tartan. Every week, there are at least 10 people on campus who sit down in front of their computers and write for us for fun, and they are magnificent. I have seen people grow and change with and through their writing, take chances and reap the rewards, learn and have fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experiences because they are not afraid to try and put words on the page.

As I look back on my time at Carnegie Mellon, I am most grateful for the wonderful writers of The Tartan, and I invite you to join us, either literally as part of the club or metaphorically on the page.

Bonus advice: Once a day or once a week sit down for 10 minutes and write 500 words about anything in the world. Don’t pause to consider whether something is silly or bad, just write. Keep doing this for a while, and see how your relationship to writing and communication have changed.