Don't judge a person by what or how they write

"Don't judge a book by its cover." This is the most classic of quotes that describes how people should not be prejudgmental to one another. If this statement is true, though, could we also argue that we "shouldn't judge a person by what or how they write"?

By now, I'm sure every senior at Burlingame High School is writing or has just about finished writing all of their personal statements and essays for the colleges that they are applying to. The problem with this, though, is that not only is doing college applications extremely annoying because all you do is type in the same information over and over again, but most of the time you don't get a choice about what you want to tell them. If you do get this choice, though, you can't even write it in a way that truly expresses who you are. Take me, for example, it's no secret that I dislike writing essays and that they are not my strongest ability in English class, but I can write informal things, like blogs, well. So the dilemma is, how can you truly know someone by reading something they wrote that doesn't truly express who they are? Sure what they wrote about themselves is true, but the way they wrote it is completely fake. Kids only write formally for colleges because if you don't then they probably won't accept you or take you seriously. I think colleges should take informal writing, like blogs, seriously. Not only are kids writing what the colleges asked for, but they're doing it in a way that expresses them the most.

I feel that informal writing shows you who someone is more than formal writing does. Informal writing allows a person to ramble on about subjects without having to worry too much about silly grammatical errors. I also feel that people are able to dive deeper into a subject because they don't have to worry about making it all sound good and smart for whoever is going to read it. By writing informally, kids are able to express themselves in a true way. Through informal writing, a reader can see who a person is, what they like, what their values are, how they feel about subjects, and more because people are more free in their writing. No thesis or quotes are needed. Just your opinions and thoughts about life or whatever you want to talk about. This is what I feel true writing is.