The Essay Versus the Instagram Caption: Teaching Writing Since 2023

What does it mean to assign undergrad students the 1500-word essay during a time when the LLM training generative AI scrape trends in Instagram captions? The cultural artifact that is the pedagogically-Eurocentric essay—given our locating its origin within Montaigne’s writings—seems to have lost its disciplinary status within the liberal arts and humanities. In what ways, then, can teachers make the case for trying, or essaying, long-form writing when condensed and summarized short forms currently prevail? On a separate but related note, how can we use this moment to make the essay a global medium in which to express long-form thought?