Austin Scholar #7: Teenagers Need to Learn How to Write Online
Back on Substack!
Hey, y'all!
Welcome back to the Austin Scholar newsletter!
Two days after I launched Austin Scholar on Substack, my Substack account was unfortunately deactivated because I was not 16 years old. The good news is that today is my birthday! For my 16th birthday, I got a Substack account, which was even better than my friend who got a car. It would be the best birthday ever if y’all could forward my newsletter to a few friends :)
Again, I apologize for that inconvenience and thank you for your support over the past month.
Over the course of the next week, I will re-publish each newsletter I have sent over the past month on Substack, so watch out for that.
By next Wednesday, I will be back to publishing weekly on Substack.
Today from Austin Scholar...
Teenagers Need to Learn How to Write Online
Three sources outlining the most valuable learnings from Write of Passage
Teenagers Need to Learn How to Write Online
Six months ago, I was writing five-paragraph-third-person-observational essays on books from the 1800s. These essays will not only get me through high school, but also teach me how to structure a basic argument with evidence, succinct reasoning, and adequate grammar.
These essays, though, while a beneficial baseline, don't hold much merit outside of academics. Most of the population isn't captivated by writing in an academic-formal tone, filled with data and studies, and that has perfect grammar. This leads to many teenagers not knowing how to make people actually want to read their writing. Teenagers need to learn how to write for the world, not just for teachers.
After I realized this, I decided to take David Perell's Write of Passage. Write of Passage (WOP) is an online five-week course where David Perell, "The Writing Guy," teaches people from around the world how to write online. The most straightforward way to make an impact and share knowledge in the 21st century is to write online.