Why Write with Clarity

    Chapter 1 of A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers examines whether teaching composition to our students is as important as English teachers think it is.  People in some fields don't need to write well.  In other fields an  employee's chance for advancement is lessened if the worker lacks the ability to write standard English.

     A few years ago a homicide detective for LAPD (after I told him that I am a high school English teacher) told me to tell my students that it's important that they learn to write well.  He said that on his job he has to go to court to testify against alleged criminals.  He told me that the court sessions sometimes happened years after the crime; and that the clarity of his writing about the incident helped to convict the guilty.