I’m a Health Science Major looking into healthcare management. I’ve already delved deep into the depths of the healthcare part of it but when it comes to management, I’ve barely even tested the waters. This is my first business class, and throughout the semester, I’ve been learning exactly what business is and how it applies to the big picture that is both the real world and the world.

To borrow a high school essay cliche, business is defined in the dictionary as “the practice of making one’s living through commerce.” And that’s pretty much how my professor introduced it to the class. But as the semester continued, we began to learn the intricacies of this practice and its components. Economics, entrepreneurship, finances, the list goes on and on. We’ve also kept track of past and current events and learned the business-related implications behind them. With every lecture and test and homework assignment, I slowly began to realize that business isn’t simply an analysis of money or contracts. It truly is, at its core, a close study of just about every aspect of the world around us. Things like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the occupation of Crimea by Russia have business behind them that affect or are affected by the given situation. I never would have stopped to think about how groups like Cirque du Soleil paid such close attention to their hiring trends and their competitors!

I feel that it’s through business that I’ve come to have a better understanding of the world and how it works. Much like the factories that produce everyday goods and services or the janitors that clean public facilities at night, business and companies are constantly working to make sure that the world and everything in is running efficiently, and does everything in its power to solve any unforeseen problems. To understand business is to understand how the world works.

Recent news has revealed that in the near future, the SAT (Standardized Aptitude Test), which tests students’ capacity for critical thinking in mathematics, reading, and writing, is about to have one of those subjects dropped. The essay section is being demoted to an option, and the maximum score will be 1600 points as opposed to 2400. I doubt that I’m the only one that believes that this is not only an outrage, but it’s a huge blow to the education and thinking capacity of high school students everywhere. If essay is only optional, then what’s the point of learning how to write? But being able to write is absolutely necessary to survive in whatever profession one may aspire for. We learn these how to write from a very young age, and we must do our best to keep these skills and refine them with each essay and very blog post we may write.

One thing that we’ve all been taught in school is the importance of writing well. From elementary school, the first thing we learned was to write out our answers in complete sentences. If the question was “What country did King Tut rule over?” we’d lose points if we only wrote “Egypt”, as opposed to “King Tut ruled over Egypt.” Or at least something similar. This is providing context as well as the knowledge that the writer knows exactly what they’re talking about and are able to convey it to the reader in an understandable fashion. Moreover, in my school at least, we had book reports in which we read a different book every week and write a short reflection about it. This teaches another way of properly conveying information in that we learn not to only convey our knowledge, but our thoughts as well. Writing is an indispensable tool for one’s self-development as it helps us to shape the things we want to say into something eloquent and sophisticated.

But what does this have to do with the SAT? A lot, actually. The essay itself is wildly different than the writing section it branches from. The writing only tests one’s ability to improve the grammar of a given sentence; it is meant solely to gauge your capability to write from an objective standpoint. The essay, on the other hand, focuses on the writer themselves. There are no right or wrong answers; they want the writer to express their own thoughts and opinions and back it up with substantial evidence. You are graded based not on what your answer is, but on whether or not you can convince the reader that your opinion is sound. This tests not only a writer’s ability to retain information, but more by their ability to understand what is given to them and their ability to draw a clear conclusion.

This idea applies not only to essays, SATs or otherwise, but to the real world of jobs and careers. Doctors must be able to write case studies that are clear about a patient’s symptoms and means to assist them. If a businessman wants to start a project, they ought to write out a proposal for their bosses and coworkers that explains what it is and how it can help their company. Even in the process of getting a job, resumes and cover letters must be able to prove to the employer that you are worth hiring. Students today must be able to write clearly and convincingly if they want to survive in their chosen career, and taking that away from them would be a huge mistake.

I was waiting for a classroom to open its doors for my next class when I overheard a conversation between two people. One of them was talking about a Writing 102 class that they didn’t do well in, and they assumed that it was because they “couldn’t figure out how the professor wanted me to write.” That irked me when I heard it, and it’s only now that I realize why. We’ve had several readings over the semester that mention writing for a specific audience, and how that audience’s reaction is based on how well they know the source material. But what if the audience is simply a writing professor?

I can recall a mock research paper that I had to write in high school to prepare for writing research papers in college. The topic was whatever we wanted to research/argue about; my paper was about comic books and how they’re a reflection of American history.  That was a very broad spectrum that helped us students to write more comfortably about something we’re familiar with, but there was a hidden message in there. And that message was: It doesn’t matter what we write about, as long as we’re able to effectively communicate to the reader our thesis statement and the evidence backing it up. I got an A on the paper and, even though my future papers wouldn’t have as much free range, that’s how I continued to write.

Which brings me back to why I was so annoyed with the conversation I overheard. It’s true that one’s writing evolves over time and through various experiences. But I don’t think anybody should have to force themselves to change their writing style to pander to one professor’s needs. Whether it be a reflection or a research paper or any other kind of essay, it’s still you writing it. If you spend an entire semester trying to pinpoint the exact method your teacher wants, not even you will be satisfied with your own work, let alone your teacher. You simply end up with something that doesn’t at all sound like something you would write. Especially for a 102 class, it shouldn’t be that difficult to learn from any mistakes that were marked on your paper. You could write a paper on just about anything and make it sound convincing to someone unfamiliar with the topic.

I think this is especially true when it comes to writing for your profession. You might think I’m contradicting myself, but hear me out. When writing a resume or cover letter, you’re writing specifically for someone. But more than anything, you still have to pour yourself into writing it. You really have to think about the questions “What can I bring to the table?” and “How can I prove to you that I’m worth hiring?” Even when trying to implement the reader’s perspective, you really have to think “Would I hire me, given my credentials?” Whatever you write, make sure you’re proud of it on a personal level. Don’t just simply write a paper following the rubric to the letter. Be creative, be witty, do whatever you want to make sure that you’re happy to submit it. Your own stamp of approval is the mark of a wonderful writer

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