You're completely correct. Learning how to write taught me how to think, and researching and writing essays taught me what I believe about nearly everything on

You're completely correct. Learning how to write taught me how to think, and researching and writing essays taught me what I believe about nearly everything on which I have strong opinions. However, +90% of students will not now do any of that work. I got out of teaching (coincidentally) before LLMs appeared, and even then +80% of students did not experience that benefit of the essay process even with a grade (and plagiarism consequences) to motivate them. Now that decent-ish prose is a few keystrokes or Siri-led "chats" away, that's what they're going to do. That's what they're going to do. I know of - I think it's up to four, now - former colleagues taking early retirement, or changing careers, rather than continue teaching Humanities in a world of LLMs.