Why is writing important in a world when you can get computers to write for you? Ask an AI tool to write an essay on Scrooge’s transformation in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and you have it. Ask it to adapt it to sound like a 14 year old, job done. Ask it to add some quotes to improve it and your wish is its command. Therefore, why should we ensure writing remains at the core of our work when an AI tool can just do it for us? It is clear that AI is going to transform our lives over the next decade, but will it improve our cognitive abilities?
My answer: Writing remains at the core of any curriculum and needs to be explicitly taught, practised and refined. Hochman and Wexler in ‘The Writing Revolution’ argue that,
“Writing is the hardest thing we ask our students to do, and the evidence is clear that very few students become good writers on their own.”
Having acknowledged this sentiment as a school, and following a detailed analysis of extended written responses across a range of different subjects, we knew that students’ writing had to improve. In the last year, the AI question has reared its head and only served to solidify our thinking as to why writing is so crucial.
