> regurgitate content (as opposed to essays that teach writing skills or critical thinking, which remain valuable). Thanks for the clarification. That said,

> regurgitate content (as opposed to essays that teach writing skills or critical thinking, which remain valuable). Thanks for the clarification. That said, Devil's Advocate here... But isn't "regurgitate content" a writing skill? That be all still quite a bit? Don't they have to walk before they can run (i.e., fine-tuning communication skills)? Regurgitation essays are graded, and that produces a bell curve of quality, doesn't that indicate the skill is a skill worth recognizing? Isn't the lack of such a simple skill indicative of something in a student? I agree that critical thinking is essential. It's something too few of us seem to have. But aren't these essays the gateway to that next step? That is, if you can't be critical of your own ideas, and their organization and presentation, are you truly ready to move on to next level lessons in critical thinking? Put another way, if it were math, why teach addition and subtraction? Why not just move on to calculus? Or higher?