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| Controversy over the 21-page test, many teachers say that the quality of an essay does not depend on its length. |
Teachers all agree that length does not reflect the quality of an essay. A student who can write long essays and is highly appreciated by teachers shows that he or she has abundant writing skills and extensive knowledge.
Recently, a female student in Ha Tinh took a 21-page Literature test for the 10th grade entrance exam and was awarded 9.75 points. Thanks to that, the female student became the valedictorian of the Literature class at Ha Tinh High School for the Gifted.
This information sparked controversy on social media. Many people praised the female student for having a rich knowledge base and clear thinking to be able to write so "strongly". However, others said: "On average, it only takes less than 9 minutes to write a full page of exam paper, so fast it is no different from an automatic typewriter".
“How big was that exam that students had to bury their heads in writing 21 pages to clarify the problem? Such an essay is worse than an athletics exam?” Some people even criticized the examiners, “They must be grading.”
“It's not a matter of temporary brilliance”
Teacher Nguyen Phuong Thanh - Deputy Head of Literature, History, Geography, Civic Education (Giang Vo Secondary School, Hanoi) said that in 150 - 180 minutes, it is normal for a Literature major student to write about 4 sheets of paper, equivalent to 16 pages or more. But in the same time, if a student can write 21 pages, that is very extraordinary.
According to Ms. Thanh, to be highly appreciated by teachers, this female student must have abundant writing ability, meaning the ability to think, express and write very quickly, at the same time, must have a good memory, a deep and solid knowledge base.
“I think this is not a one-time thing. She has proven her ability in district and provincial competitions for excellent students, and the proof is that she convincingly won the first prize in Literature at the provincial level. She is an indisputable talent. As a teacher, I admire and respect students with such outstanding talents,” said Ms. Phuong Thanh.
However, according to Ms. Phuong Thanh, not everyone who writes long is synonymous with writing well. In fact, when teaching gifted students and general students, Ms. Thanh always focuses on training students in two skills: knowing how to develop a main idea into a long essay; from a long essay, knowing how to summarize it into a short essay, a short paragraph, or even summarizing it in one sentence.
Ms. Phuong Thanh expressed her opinion: "A good essay must first be an essay that is correct and complete in meaning, that is, it must be on topic, have a coherent system of ideas, be closely linked, have clear and easy-to-understand writing style, and then consider other factors such as flexible expression, rich imagery, an impressive ending, and leave a deep resonance in the reader's heart...".
According to Ms. Thanh, the current trend in teaching Literature is to focus on training students to write concisely but with enough ideas, and to make strong arguments, aiming at the practical goal of making it easy for readers and listeners to understand.
At the same time, she also said that in reality, there are many short articles that are still profound and have the power to move the hearts of millions of people. Uncle Ho's immortal political essays are typical evidence of that.
“In the exam to select excellent students to enter specialized schools, we need to respect and honor such exams. However, we should not “promote” them too much but still need to learn how to write concisely, fully, and easily understood.
We should not assume that writing long is synonymous with writing well. Depending on the situation, purpose, and audience, we should have a suitable way of speaking and writing," said Ms. Phuong Thanh.
Length does not measure the quality of an essay.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, a Literature teacher at Thai Binh High School for the Gifted (Thai Binh province), also expressed her admiration for her Ha Tinh student for her writing ability, diligence and dedication.
"At your age, your arms don't have much strength yet you can reach up like that, it's really admirable," said Ms. Thuy.
Ms. Thuy believes that, with a Literature test, whether a piece is long or short depends on the choice, ability and “literary” nature of each person. Some people need to write long to fully express their ideas and convey their full message, but others have the ability to write concisely, succinctly and concisely.
Therefore, length is not a measure of the quality of a Literature test. To have a good essay, according to Ms. Thuy, students need to express their views on the issue raised in the topic through a system of arguments, feelings and emotions; have a personal perspective and exploration of the issue; have creativity in writing and expression...
"Reading an essay, you can see the student's unique qualities, intelligence, and soul. That will be an impressive piece of writing," said Ms. Thuy.
Teacher Nguyen Thien Huong, a Literature teacher at Dong Da Secondary School (Hanoi), also affirmed that length is not the deciding factor in the quality of an essay.
“For students with rich knowledge, coherent thinking, and rich literary emotions, even if they write long, the content is still presented specifically, comprehensively, and convincingly; the reader still feels very “fascinated”.
On the contrary, there are candidates who write long but rambling, "rambling" will not clarify the content of the question and no one wants to read.
Or there are students who write very briefly, concisely but still convincingly; but there are also articles that are too short to fully develop the ideas.
Therefore, according to Ms. Huong, a good essay must clearly focus on the topic, have enough ideas, be coherent, concise, logical, have clear language, and be rich in emotions and images. Through that, the essay must express unique and profound personal views.
Achieving these elements, whether long or short, will definitely score high.
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