Write For Your Life By Anna Quindlen Analysis

In “Proficiency” Shannon Nichols, writes about herself as a young girl from Ohio who describes her experience taking the standardized writing proficiency test. Nichols says, "The standardized writing proficiency test is a test that high school students in Ohio must pass in order for them to receive their high school diplomas". The test covered reading, math, citizenship, and writing. She was a smart student and her GPA was never below 3.00, and she was also a good writer because in the passage, she stated, “A poem I wrote was put on television once (Nichols).”

She was an honor roll student who exceeded all expectations and passed all of her classes, but when she took her state test, to her surprise, she passed all but writing. She was surprised because she believed she was a good writer and a smart student. She thought that she spelled every word correctly, and that she used good grammar. She took the test a second time and failed again. She

People use technology more today. People don’t write letters much, but instead we use emails more. Quindlen stated that the movie “Freedom Fighters” “isn't only about the difference one good teacher can make in the life of one messed-up kid, but is about the power of writing in the lives of ordinary people (Quindlen).” Quindlen wants to show how important it is to write, because in the movie there were many students who were going through serious problems. For example, some kids in the movie were doing drugs, or they were involved in gangs. Their teacher helped them through writing, and let them write without judging them and without grading them. Quindlen says, “Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some under culture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as