My wife is going through an intensive one-year college ESL course with an emphasis on writing. This was my first encounter with the rigid structure of American

My wife is going through an intensive one-year college ESL course with an emphasis on writing. This was my first encounter with the rigid structure of American college essays. Initially I found it silly and counterproductive, but I have since softened my stance. My wife, despite having a degree from a top university in her country, had hardly any practice writing essays even in her native language. Because of that, she has had her hands full just worrying about her ideas and how to express them in correct and idiomatic English, so the fixed structure has been invaluable for her--it helps organize her thoughts and removes one whole class of tricky decisions from the writing process. Think of it as training wheels. Once you don't need the formal structure anymore, you can and probably should stop using it.