A Call for Precision

Recently I've been bothered a bit by a trend in student writing I've noticed over the past year or two. It has become common for most students, when they turn in their final paper for major assignments, to hand in rough work. Or perhaps "careless" is a better term. Whatever the adjective, it has become rare now to see essays turned in from junior and seniors that are devoid of basic spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors. Most feel unfinished.

It hasn't always been so. There used to be a sense of pressure felt by students on due dates. It was the pressure of having one's name on something and having it judged. Though not for the masses, they were in a way "publishing" their work, and many (at least far more than now) carefully checked for the unforced errors that plague the writing I read today.

I have a theory. I think today's student is so accustomed to "publishing" that the pressure of having their name attached to something is non-existent. Their name is attached to dozens of unpunctuated half-thoughts each day in the form of tweets, texts, posts, and pictures. Thousands of people are exposed to their writing at all times; publishing has lost its luster, it's significance. If the synapses connecting fingers to keypad fire more quickly than it requires to reflect upon what is being put out to the world with their name on it, then so be it. They feel no burden to represent themselves with a work of art every time they attach their signature to something.

This is more observation than criticism; this is my attempt at understanding my students and this trend.

But it is a call, I believe, to many of us to take greater care in our publishing. For we should feel the pressure to be precise and the need to produce masterpieces in the digital world in which we find ourselves.

I recently read a blog post in which the author had decided to get his daughter a smart phone, but with it he and his wife had created a contract between them and the daughter regarding her use of it. It made for interesting reading, and in it I found many pieces of wisdom that reach beyond teenagers. Of particular note was this: "You've been gifted with incredible creativity and skill so use it and create, don't just consume. Avoid the trap of mindlessly consuming others' thoughts and productions. Leave an incredible 'digital footprint' in this wonderful world you're a part of."

Here lies two specific challenges First of all, do not merely consume. If you are creative, then create. It is easy to passively ingest social media and media in general as though through a feeding tube; frankly, it's easy to do this in all corners of life. It will always be easier to demand that others produce beauty and entertainment, that others get involved with the dirty work of actually interacting and helping others, that others make the changes that we see so desperately need to be made. But just as being a spectator in the rest of life seems like a waste, it seems like a waste in the digital community as well.

Secondly, this is a call for masterpieces. The challenge to create is not one that demands hundreds of posts a day. Or a week. Rather, this asks that with each Facebook post or tweet, we ask, Is this a masterpiece? Is this improving the world? And for Christians, Is this bringing glory to God? The pressure of publication should come with each post, as it drives us to do better, to create with more precision and care. It asks for a purpose for everything: not merely to fill the air (or screen) with babble, but to paint boldly, on purpose.

Bret Lott, in his book Letters and Life, writes, "Because my God is so precise, my writing ought not to be fuzzy or nearly clear or just almost precise enough. My writing ought to be precise because I have been made in the image of God, and not blurrily in his image, not almost in his image, not close enough in his image."

So publish, and publish wisely. Publish with pressure, and publish with precision. For your name is on it. And that matters.