In my time in high school, I have noticed a profound problem as both a newspaper editor and a student in English classes: a large portion of the student body is incapable of consistently writing in a manner that is grammatically correct.

I have also noticed this: we spend a very large portion of our English classes reading and analyzing literature, sacrificing time that could be spent educating us about our own language. Independent clauses, dependent clauses, comma splices, split infinitives, fragments and, my personal favorite, comma usage, are sacrificed all too often on the altar of literature, and the student body’s abilities to write and communicate are suffering for it.

As a person who loves books, I understand the value of reading and literature, and I understand how we can use it to relate to other subjects. However, I also understand the value of communication and the ability to correctly write. Forming a correct sentence is more than just writing down what you think; there are established grammatical rules which we use to prevent a breakdown in communication. Our English classes focus so much on literature that learning grammar becomes lost in a medley of allegories, irony, foreshadowing, etc.

One of my English teachers once told me that they use our writing assignments to teach us grammar. This makes sense to me, except we do very few full writing assignments throughout the year in which the teacher focuses on correcting our grammar and establishing good writing skills. Students aren’t given enough opportunities to develop these abilities; anything they learn from one writing assignment can be without being cemented in through practice.

If a student is going to receive a well-rounded education on the English language and its importance, then our English classes need to find a balance between literature and the grammar that builds it.