The "Priceless" Skill

When I started teaching writing 15 years ago for grades 3 through 12, several people asked me the same question. “Why teach writing?”

It’s a fair question. We live in a world of short-form videos, emojis, and now, Artificial Intelligence that can write a five-paragraph essay in seconds. It is easy to assume that writing is a dying art, a “soft skill” that matters less in a tech-driven future.

My own experience in government and private industry makes clear that the opposite is true.

Writing is not just about grammar. Writing is about thinking. In the age of AI, clear thinking cannot be automated. Moreover, clear thinking is central to effective use of AI.

The “Amazon” Rule:  No PowerPoint

One of the most famous examples of the power of writing comes from one of the world's most tech-driven companies – Amazon.

Jeff Bezos famously banned PowerPoint presentations in executive meetings. Instead, if an executive wanted to pitch a new idea, he or she had to write a six-page narrative memo. The meeting would start with everyone sitting in silence for 30 minutes, reading the memo.

Why? Because bullet points allow a person to hide weak thinking.

As Bezos noted, “The reason writing a good 4-page memo is harder than writing a 20-page PowerPoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what.”

In my previous career, I saw this every day. Those who were the most effective, who rose to the top, weren’t always the loudest voices; they were the ones who could synthesize complex problems into clear, written solutions.

If a student cannot organize thoughts on paper, that student will struggle to lead a team, pitch a business or innovation, or negotiate a contract or treaty.

The AI Paradox: Why “Easy” Writing Makes “Great” Writing Invaluable

Today, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can generate text instantly. This leads many students (and parents) to wonder if learning writing is still necessary.  Since many students dislike writing to begin with, it doesn’t take much to convince them that using AI obviates the need for writing.

Here’s the reality: AI has made average writing a commodity. In so doing, AI has made great writing a “game changer.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently noted that as AI takes over technical tasks, “soft skills” like empathy, judgment, and critical thinking are becoming the true differentiators in the job market. LinkedIn data supports Nadella’s observation: the data shows that at least 72% of executives now value soft skills over AI-related technical skills.

Why? Because AI can predict the next word, but it cannot determine the right direction.

Technologist and venture capitalist Paul Graham put it best: “Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it is so hard.”

If students rely on AI to write their essays, they aren’t just cheating on an assignment; they are robbing themselves of the cognitive workout required to develop their own brain. They are outsourcing their thinking. Moreover, they are outsourcing their thinking to something that cannot equal the thinking they can develop themselves.

From K-12 to the Boardroom or the Situation Room

So, what does this mean for your fifth grader writing an essay for school, or your high school student preparing for the SAT or trying to write an essay for a college admissions officer?

It means that the “old school” skills I teach at VIL Academy – prompt diagnosis, critical reading, rhetorical analysis, persuasive structure, advanced grammar that clarifies expression of thought – are actually “future-proof” skills. Consider the following:

1.      Prompt Engineering is Just Writing. Many argue that prompt engineering is the job of the future. Yet, what is a prompt? It is a set of clear, logical interactions. You cannot tell a computer what to do if you cannot articulate it.

2.      College admissions. Admissions officers at colleges and universities are now flooded with generic, polished essays. They are intensively looking for the elusive, “human spark” – the unique voice that an algorithm cannot replicate, however much it can polish text.

3.      Resilience. Writing is a struggle. It requires revision, patience, and handling feedback. These are the exact character traits that help a professional navigate a crisis in the workplace. Ask anyone who has ever written a performance evaluation, negotiated a contract, or produced an inter-agency document.

The Ever-Important “Bottom Line”

Today, I teach in an academy that I founded because I know what awaits students on the other side of graduation. The world doesn’t need more people who can copy-paste. No one can rely on someone’s prediction of the “right” major for a job two years from now, let alone five or ten. There is but one skill that seems enduring – the ability to think clearly. Writing is not just a way of expressing lucid thinking. It is the way to develop the ability to think.