The purpose of English in school should be for the student to be able to express themselves in writing when they leave. Comprehension, grammar and composition should all feed into and support that objective.

That isn't happening. English is seen in isolation just as other subjects are. Physics, History, Environmental Studies. They all exist in silos, don't they? ... But do they? Whatever the answer to that question, one thing is clear. Almost other subjects are written in English in school. What are the odds that if a student writes better in English for the English paper, they will write better in all other subjects?

When students move out into the real world, they aren't using English to only write about English. They are using English to write about scientific discoveries, about art and culture, about mental health, about the environment, about economics.

To produce students who write well when out of school, we need to reorient ourselves to the end-goal while they are in school and change the way we teach the language.