I don’t know what it is. Give me a topic and an audience and I can talk about it for hours. But give me a forum to write about it and I often have trouble even starting. I have been trying to start a personal blog for roughly four years now. I have 10s of posts at various stages of completion, but have never pulled the trigger to actually show the world what I think. Last night I got to thinking why that is and it dawned on me that we are conditioned this way.
Every writing exercise I have completed to date has been judged. Essays, papers, reports, projects. All of these are graded, often harshly, in order to classify thoughts according to a curriculum, message, or third party goal. Free thoughts are often critiqued which in my opinion discourages the activity in general. Why would we say what we are thinking if it is going to be attacked?
I would not propose that critique is not required. It helps us clarify our message, hone our skills and promote communication. I just think that the manner in which we do it is flawed. I feel that communication skills should be made a priority in our schools. The growing trend to self directed learning and job training is horrendous. Young people need to understand the importance of community and communication. The growth of social networking technologies in business I think reiterates this fact.
So I guess my problem really is not with writing. It is more of a problem with how writing is encouraged and taught to us form a young age. Be that as it may, something still has to be done about it, so where do we start?
James Oickle 