Understanding the forms is also a necessary part of being able to write a good essay. Someone writing down a stream of consciousness of the best ideas about a t

Understanding the forms is also a necessary part of being able to write a good essay. Someone writing down a stream of consciousness of the best ideas about a topic isn't going to do as good a job at conveying those as someone who's able to organize those into an essay which methodically guides the reader through those ideas to their conclusions. Of course there is no one true best form for essays of all kinds, so in some cases a less common structure should be used. Even then, at least a familiarity with some of the most common high-level structures of introduction, extrapolation, and conclusion can provide a starting point for adapting that basic style to the circumstances at hand. In the same way a pianist studies scales early in their learning not because scales are beautiful music, but because it provides a baseline of skills that can help them to make beautiful music upon.