Why Children & Teens Need to Write with Voice (…& not Just on Admissions Essays)
Note: I first wrote this post as a newsletter early in 2023—but it’s more relevant now, a full year later, than ever. I also wrote in more depth about my experiences with Mrs. B, voice, and New York high school application essays in my Parents League of New York essay, “Growing Up New York.” You can read that here.
- Ashleigh Bell Pedersen, WWB Founder & Writing Coach
In the December 2022 New York Times article, “Did a Fourth Grader Write This? Or the New Chatbot?”, readers were invited to do just that: to decide if a handful of short essays were written by a child, or a bot.
It was a fun read, but something bothered me: the author never acknowledged what was missing from the bot writing—voice.
Voice is connected to personal experience and our ability to make meaning of that experience. In other words, it’s what makes us human.
In one (human) fourth grader's essay about lunch time, they included a detail about cleaning their teeth after lunch “because [they] have braces.” This is real voice! A detail about cleaning braces post-lunch is so much more honest and compelling than the bot's vague (and unrealistic, for fourth graders) claim that at lunch, students “catch up on each other’s day."
Voice is also what sets student writing apart from the crowd—or, to rise above the bots! This is key for students—not only for the joy that is real self-expression, but for critical writing in their academic years, such as New York City high school admissions essays or college application essays.
Despite its importance, many students struggle to express their own voice. They think that the details of their lives don't matter to readers—or else, they feel too vulnerable sharing them.
As a young person, I got lucky. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. B, was adamant that the memories and imagery of our young lives mattered. She encouraged us to write the details: the feeling of our dog’s soft ears, the light from a nearby streetlamp as we lay awake at night.
Learning about voice made me fall in love with writing—and writing allowed me to:
Gain admission to an excellent MFA program at the University of Pittsburgh, along with a teaching fellowship and full scholarship.
Achieve a published novel with recognition from The New York Times (and named an Editors’ Choice).
Teach students on my own terms through successful entrepreneurship.
Teach students creative writing at Quinnipiac University,
Find deeper meaning and purpose in my work and creative life.
Soon after my novel came out, I tracked my beloved Mrs. B down online and mailed her a signed copy of The Crocodile Bride. In my initial email, I thanked her for her lessons on voice—which changed the course of my life.
Voice is essential in admissions essay writing for children applying to New York City high schools, and rising seniors applying to college. Write Well Brooklyn offers programs for creating powerful, authentic, voice-driven essays that help students stand apart.