Imagine you’re standing on a small beach. A strip of land that you could easily walk across in a few short minutes. The waves are calmly breaking on the shore, leaving behind seashells and other wondrous items to collect. The sun is dipping below the horizon, the sky leaving behind streaks of reds and oranges, almost looking like fire. It’s a peaceful time, a time where your worries can just fade away.

Writing like this is a part of creative writing - something that many teenagers can use in their life. Creative writing is important and the option to learn it during a high school career can change a student’s future in a positive way. Creative writing teaches teens multiple subjects that they can apply to real life, and it also helps develop a teen in many ways.

When it comes to teaching or learning, students would get bored writing the same essays over and over again, and learning the same subject in English without any growth. However creative writing not only teaches English, but it also teaches lots more. It teaches students to better understand themselves and challenge their surroundings. It teaches to exercise their creative minds, to expand artistic thought, and to use their imagination. Using imagination with anything can lead to one finding better alternatives to a problem, and it helps students realize that being creative isn’t a bad thing. Creative writing teaches students to layout their thoughts and to better understand the values and functions of writing. All of this can be put into the real world in the future, or in the present. It is vital to students and will help their future with any path they go down.

While the subject does teach a student many things, it also allows students to grow. Many students deal with anxiety, depression, stress, and loads more, and they’re often too afraid to seek out help from a counselor or any trusted adult, which leads to mentally degrading practices. Nevertheless, creative writing allows students to express themselves in an easy fashion. Creative writing is not just writing stories and painting worlds - it’s also poetry, it’s a narrative craft. The subject aids in developing voice and self confidence in others, and it broadens the thought process. Creative writing engages students and motivates them to work to their full potential, but it also allows them to experiment and adapt to find what’s best suited for them. Also, creative writing helps largely with teamwork. It teaches students to collaborate with others, and to build off of the ideas of others.

Many might suggest an after school club for creative writing for students who are interested in the subject. However, there are some flaws with a club. For one, not all students who are interested would be able to go to meetings. Studies show that more than 26 million students in the US ride the bus to and from school and many more are riding with older siblings, parents, or friends. A small portion of the students drive or walk to school themselves, but usually with other passengers. Another flaw with a creative writing club is that often times, club meetings are few and far between, usually with one meeting per month, and many students need the help from a club organizer or need to talk to the club organizer. Finally, the third flaw is that students have other extracurricular activities outside of school such as band, art club, basketball, and more.

If there was an elective for creative writing, students would not have to worry about transportation to meetings or finding the time to go to a club meeting. They would have access to talk to a teacher during the school day and would still have the availability to participate in sports and other clubs. Not only this, but often times creative writing clubs won’t push students as hard to write because it wouldn’t affect a grade.

Once again, creative writing is a major subject for teenagers. There are many good things that creative writing can bring out in students, and it can help them for years to come. Public high schools should have the subject offered as a class to students so that they can learn it. Creative writing is one of the most common ways to learn writing skills, and can be put into almost any job. It teaches students, but it also advances students. Without creative writing in our world, we would perish.