What are the benefits of writing a lengthy essay as a main choice to educate youth?

Many younger adults want to become educated, like myself, and want to have a degree in the career field of their choosing. However, in order for you to excel in your field of interest you have to take prerequisites in general education before taking the essential classes that prepare you to educate yourself in your field of study. In my case, in order to become a medical laboratory technician I have to take such classes as English and Psychology, these courses have nothing to do with looking through a microscope at infectious diseases. So here we go, another day in college and your four to five page research paper is due. What is the point, and how will this instill the knowledge that I need for my degree? These are thoughts that plague my mind on a constant basis. Why is a lengthy essay most often used as a teaching tool then just having short answer or multiple-choice questions that gauge my knowledge on the subject in question? Can a student really excel in their education when given assignments that force the student to spend countless hours on a subject matter that neither helps nor hinders the overall outcome of their education?
Professors seem to utilize only a few ways to educate students. Whether it is essays, discussion questions, or journal writing how is this format designed to stimulate thought and ultimately educate the student? As one of my high school teachers, Mr. Allen Dean, would state, “Be creative, and explore your mind”. This mantra would seem like a great concept, showing how to depict what the professor is trying to instill, creating an assignment that allows for communication in the form of a lengthy essay. I personally have had many struggles with effectively finding the delicate balance between writing a clear and concise essay and accurately depicting what I have learned in my time within a college course. Therefore, although lengthy essays in college are abundant, I do not believe that they are the best way to educate students because not every student learns the same way. Whether the essay is for Psychology or your average English class, essays are just one way of teaching a student. Why is educating in the form of auditory or visual stimulation not a viable option? Do essays on topics like the theory of evolution, or how to think rhetorically give students the knowledge that is required to gauge their ability to grasp the material covered in the course?
Let us dive right into auditory learning and the benefits of this particular style. Auditory learners retain knowledge by listening to presentations or having a group decision. Most college professors utilize this technique through peer interactions or lectures (Felder, 676). Auditory learners excel at reciting the information they are learning. When the student recites and then verbalizes the material, they are more apt to retain and cognately store this information for later use. Talking about the subject then discussing it in groups could be a very viable option of learning. This has also been adapted into online textbooks offering an auditory option to assist the user in effectively recalling the information. Therefore, I am not alone in assuming that textbook companies have adapted this technique for the benefit of students who excel at this from of learning. Auditory learning is not the best for everyone, but this is one of the major ways of acquiring information. Just imagine you are sitting in your dorm room making some pizza for dinner and you have the local news on the television, and even though you are not watching the television screen you can still recall the information presented, and be able to follow the headlines without much effort. Okay, so talking about the same experience, you decide to put the television on mute and play one of your favorite bands, but now you are watching the television, and you can still understand and follow the stories covered with the use of video and closed captions. This style of learning called “visual learning” applied to student’s learning curve happens all the time.
Using visuals, as a form of teaching helps to give the “visual learner” the knowledge retention that is required to help to process information and recall it later. Visual learners utilize pictures, flowcharts, and diagrams to acquire most of the information (Felder, 676). In the world outside of the classroom companies utilize this learning stile with grafts, flow charts, or even spreadsheets. So could we assume that if major corporations need these visuals to educate their employees, why do we not utilize this style in the classroom to get a teacher’s point across? Now back in the classroom almost every textbook that you look at has forms of visual stimuli to help keep the reader engaged as well as help cater to the visual learner. Whether it is the anatomy of a cell or the best ways to outline your infamous lengthy essay, the use of visual stimuli creates a visceral connection for the student to use in his or her learning process. “How effective is only using the visual learning style?” Well, think about your trip to the grocery store, you have the list in your head but you forget about an item until you see an advertisement. You just remembered something because you were able to recall by the use of visual stimulation. On the other hand, have you tried to explain a certain type of bread to someone that you can visually picture in your head, but when trying to use your words to describe the item, are you unsuccessful? Use of visual stimuli is one of the major learning styles of your brain to retain information. One last comparison, think about your favorite commercial, do you think you would have remembered the product if it was described just in text, probably not.
The use of “Kinetic learning” or “reading and writing” is an option but should not be the main teaching style. While reading and taking notes is an example of the kinetic learning, is this method effective for all students in a classroom? Kinetic learning is a style can be extremely time consuming and ineffective. Therefore, difficult learning situations should not utilize the Kinetic leaning style for retention, and overall effective learning. Learning is not a process that utilizes only one style to stimulate the brain. As a student, I have encountered many different styles of information that I have processed with this method, but it is not the only way to learn. Visual and Auditory learning are techniques that I have adapted into my learning curve and it has helped me tremendously to retain the most information. Perhaps professors can better assist their students in learning by offering multiple options of assessments for students with different learning styles such as presentations, lectures, and multimedia sources. I am not trying to offer a solution to this problem but I would like to offer an alternative to my future educators on the different ways to accommodate my learning style.
 

Works Cited

Felder, Richard M., and Linda K. Silverman. "Learning and teaching styles in engineering education." Engineering education 78.7 (1988): 674-681.