Writing Punishment Roy Peter Clark's efforts in the English classroom to address long held methods of instruction are

evident. Borrowing from a scientific standpoint, he used a group of sixth graders to prove a point. Years of negative reinforcement had made writing a difficult task. Not that students failed to grasp the principles, it was they had been denied the encouragement and motivation to express their thoughts as the written word. With a simple two weeks of work and effort, these timid, untapped minds were able to fully unleash what was on their young minds. At least from a 6th graders perspective. This "psuedofear" that had developed of writing had originated from it's use as a punishment to these children. Once this fear of negative repercussion was removed their thoughts were able to flow thoughts and be successful at writing Reading Hate "Hooray! Hooray! Just think- I never have to take English anymore!" As my final class of English drew to a close, this is a good relative expression for how I felt. I had thought about this often while attending Greenwood High School. I took Honors English years ago as a senior. In the "advanced" class we were still expected to do 20 words of spelling/ vocabulary comprehension on a weekly basis. It was completely juvenile. So regressive of learning in it's nature. Grammar was paramount, not content or contemplation on the material being articulated. I had several open arguments with my teacher from reasoned positions. The general reply was " Fine, Mr. Moss, do it your way, but I will fail you." This archaic mode of thought pushed me away from a higher education. Well, truth be told, it was coupled mostly with the fact that the Iraq War was in an upward crescendo. This is where my true motivation and desire laid. What Earthly reason could I fathom to sit in another monotonous, mundane and thoughtless class of "higher learning"-None. Reading and writing must be enjoyable, or at least a means to an end. Regimented, forced learning inhibits the free thinking learning process. There is a time and a place for it. I can reflect back on much of my military training and can analyze it. There was a necessity to have training in mass, much of the material was technical in nature. From a safety perspective or a tactical standpoint, one way works or it was the first of many ways to learn to perform a task. In that environment it was important to learn that way. The free thinking writer, artist or philosopher needs to think abstractly, or at least remove himself from the common internal though process and think on a higher level. This is where the success is found.