Five Paragraph Essay

I just completed two more semesters in college.  I have only three to go before I graduate. One of the English classes I took last semester discussed the different emphases available to students. It was mostly a lot of reading and group discussions, but I enjoyed the relaxed feel of the class and the student-based course assignments. One day, we discussed the educational side of English for those who want to go on and be teachers in some form or another. Our discussion included a variety of topics including the validity of the five paragraph essay format taught to most middle and high school students around the nation. The teacher and most of the students do not think that the five paragraph essay is a good way to teach students. I agreed with them in class, but as I went home to think later that day, I decided that I disagree.
The five paragraph essay is a basic format for students to convey their thoughts in a manner that is easily graded by the teacher. The different paragraphs are outlined simply and clearly, often with a "hamburger" or "sandwich" illustration. The student is to write an essay that includes an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement describing the claim and evidence that will be explored in the essay (the hamburger bun); three separate paragraphs explaining the claim and evidence that supports that claim, each paragraph with their own topic sentence, quotes, and explanation (the meat, lettuce, and cheese); and finally a concluding paragraph summarizing the claim, the evidence given, and the details of the essay (the bottom hamburger bun). This format is straightforward and simple for students to understand and replicate. It is also easy for teachers to grade. All a teacher has to do is examine the essay for the format guidelines and then assign a grade accordingly. Because of the ease of grading, the students in the class I attended felt that the five paragraph essay format was ill-suited for students to learn and improve. The claimed that teaching the five paragraph essay format encourages students to learn the form without adapting the form to other papers. They also claimed that a teacher might grade only on those criteria without helping the student learn.
However, as I thought about the five paragraph essay, I realized that I had missed the point of a five paragraph essay. Writing a five paragraph essay is about having an idea, supporting it with evidence, and explaining it in an easy-to-understand manner. An essay isn't just about format, it's about the development of ideas. A student can write a five paragraph essay that meets all the form requirements without developing his or her ideas fully. To me, the content and expression of content matter just as much as the format in which the content is displayed. For this reason, I feel like my fellow students missed the purpose of teaching the five paragraph essay and felt like it was ineffective. If the teacher grades in a manner that emphasizes the form of the five paragraph essay, he or she is not benefiting the students as much as assessing the student's ability to convey meaning. My teacher encouraged us to find the deepest why, to think critically about what we were reading, and to analyze material. All three are possible in a five paragraph essay if the student takes the time to go beyond the requirements of the form. Also, the five paragraph essay form is easily adaptable to any essay-type document because it teaches students to have a reason or a focus to write, an organization and flow to the thoughts expressed, and sufficient support to the claims made, which are necessary in any paper. I often adopt the five paragraph form when writing a paper, no matter the amount of paragraphs I have, because I know the form is an easy way to express my ideas, as long as my ideas show that I am thinking critically about my topic.
For some students, writing a five paragraph essay might be torture. For some teachers, grading a five paragraph essay might be cruel and unusual punishment. But for me, I understand the use of a five paragraph essay and I am grateful for the foundation it has given me towards writing the right.