Why Students Shouldnt Worry About Stem-N Essay Topics

Why Students Shouldn't Worry About 'Stem-N' Essay TopicsAlthough the use of a high school English composition essay is a common occurrence these days, there are some concerns that have been raised about some of the questions asked in a campus-wide written prompt known as the 'Stem-N' questionnaire. These concerns range from the inclusion of a question about a poem about a streetcar named Desire to the inclusion of filler questions about the essay topics of humanism and liberalism. Should students be worried about this?On May 1, a student took issue with a question in the 'Stem-N' online writing survey regarding the poem 'Desire.' In the poem, Dostoyevsky's great 1873 novel The Idiot explains the emotions of his character Nicholas Rushton. The central concept of the poem is that an individual's life is defined by 'desire.' Nicholas and other characters in the novel testify to the fact that they are 'controlled' by desire in their lives.Desires, Dostoyevsky seems to imply, are always p resent but people are never fully aware of their desires. For this reason, one must 'control' one's own desires to avoid unproductive or self-destructive behaviors. The poem ends by suggesting that the main character may not even know what his desires are and therefore it is essential to control them. In the essay, a student raises concerns about the poem's relevance. Specifically, she argues that the poem's purpose is not merely to address a single literary concern.As a result, her concern is that the poem's focus on 'desires' distracts from the essay topics of personal identity and life purpose. Further, the poet's focus on desires distracts from the need for students to examine and interpret personal identities. Additionally, the student complains that it is unclear whether the poem is addressing the common concerns of contemporary life or the literary concerns of Dostoyevsky's time.By arguing that 'Desire' is an important essay topic, this student is not alone. Writing teachers who have encountered 'Desire' in online writing assignments have had similar concerns.There is no doubt that students are examining issues of personal identity, but the presence of 'Desire' in an essay can easily overshadow these topics. Furthermore, if the poem's purpose is to address a single literary concern, then why is the poem, the essay, as a whole, grouped together in the first place?Rather than arguing about the themes, concerns, and purposes of the poem and the essays that follow, I'd like to urge the use of students' essays as part of the 'stretch' we teach in our creative writing classes. If the purpose of an essay is to engage students in critical thinking and research, then we should allow them to consider different perspectives. As an alternative, we can group together essays based on theme, format, and format.Questions about the essay topics may also be posed to the class. Hopefully, they will accept the option to group together essays based on these factors rather t han seeing the essay topics as obstacles.