“The greatest gift one human can give another is to share knowledge – things you know to be True.” – Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book.
“In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multi-colored (“pied”) clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat catcher. He promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. The mayor, in turn, promised to pay him 1,000 guilders. The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where they all drowned (and subsequently saved the village from the Black Plague). The mayor reneged claiming the piper brought the rats into the town in an extortion attempt. The piper stormed out of the town returning later on Saint John and Paul’s day dressed in hunter green and began playing his pipe. While the adults were in church one hundred and thirty children followed the piper out of town never to be seen again. Three children, one crippled, one deaf, and one blind remained behind to tell what happened. The earliest known record of this story is from the town of Hamelin itself, depicted in a stained glass window created for the church of Hamelin dating to around 1300.” – wikipedia
William Zinsser is such a piper. Instead of multi-colored clothing Zinsser developed writing across a multi-discipline curriculum. What the Pied Piper did for the city of Hamelin Zinsser tried to do for education in America. Why has Zinsser’s approach revolutionized education? Because writing requires thinking and thinking requires reasoning. It can be applied by any teacher of any subject.
This begs the question “how can teachers teach students to write when they don’t know how themselves?” Zinsser explains how in his excellent book Writing to Learn. It ain’t rocket science. Institutional memory is only two years at best (Zinsser died in 2015) particularly when it requires overcoming inertia. Therefore it bears repeating this concept should be introduced into every school in America. It goes a long way to restoring Johnny’s reading, reasoning, and writing skills.
What better memorial to William Zinsser than parents demanding writing across the curriculum be required in their children’s schools. They deserve it. The future of America demands it.
See also: On Writing Well and Writing About Your Life by William Zinsser; and How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
