Berkeley High School offers a multitude of interesting and unique courses, but there’s one subject in which there is a clear lack of opportunities: creative writing. The term creative writing refers to writing stories and poetry; it relies on the author’s imagination and creativity, rather than being purely academic. Many English classes have creative writing-focused units, but the only course focused specifically on creative writing is “Reading and Writing the Short Story,” which can only be taken senior year. BHS needs more creative writing classes to allow students who are passionate about writing to actually explore it in depth, throughout their high school careers.
Creative writing can be incredibly beneficial to students. Not only does it break the monotony of constant academic essays, it can also be an excellent form of self-expression. “It allows (students) to access a freer and more personal side of themselves that is normally overlooked in academia,” Kate Rosen, an Academic Choice English teacher and teacher of Reading and Writing the Short Story, said, “Creative writing allows for the imagination to take over and gives students the opportunity to be introspective without fear of the judgement usually associated with essay writing.” Creative writing gives students the opportunity to build more varied writing skills and to play around with tone and writing techniques they wouldn’t normally use.
That said, creative writing being incorporated into ordinary English classes isn’t necessarily enough. For students passionate about creative writing and interested in legitimately pursuing it, there should be more courses that focus solely on creative writing. “It could be really fun and helpful to … receive pointers and tips from a class directly centered on creative writing,” Selah Park-Manoff, a BHS freshman and writer for the Redwood Literary Magazine, a BHS-run creative writing magazine, said. Students interested in learning more about creative writing usually have to turn to extracurriculars. Clubs offer opportunities to explore creative writing, but once-a-week, student-run meetings are a far cry from daily lessons from a professional.
Students who want to learn specifically about creative writing should have the opportunity to do so in a classroom setting. “I definitely wish there was some sort of creative writing-based class that I and other students could take to help improve on writing. Students who are into it but who don't see many options at BHS could end up not knowing how to do it on a higher level,” Park-Manoff said. It isn’t right to provide so many classes in other arts, then expect students who want to learn about creative writing to go out of their way to find other places to learn when it’s possible to just implement those classes at BHS.
BHS desperately needs more elective courses that focus solely on creative writing. Depriving students of classes in which they can seriously learn about creative writing does an injustice to those who want to explore it further than their English classes allow.