National Council of Teachers of English

NCTE Beliefs about the Students’ Right to Write

Approved by the NCTE Executive Committee, July 2014

 

During this era of high-stakes testing, technology-based instruction, and increased control over students’ expression due to school violence, students’ right to write must be protected. Censorship of writing not only stifles student voices but denies students important opportunities to grow as both writers and thinkers. Through the often messy process of writing, students develop strategies to help them come to understand lessons within the curriculum as well as how their language and ideas can be used to communicate, influence, reflect, explain, analyze, and create.

The National Council of Teachers of English believes

 

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.