William Zinsser in "Simplicity," Mike Rose in "I Just Wanna Be Average," and Steve Brody in "How I Got Smart" all present ways in which hard work, concentration, and dedication pay off in terms of improving the student's educational and communication skills.
Zinsser writes about the importance of clarity, simplicity and organization in writing: "The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components" (115). Zinsser gives examples of statements from education and politics in which the writer uses language which seems to come from a machine rather than a living human being. People write in such confusing ways because they are trying to sound important and because they are trying to impress their readers with fancy language. The writer who wants to be understood will choose his words not to impress but to communicate clearly what he wants to say.
After the writer decides what he wants to say, and has written a first draft, he gets down to the hardest part of writing--re-writing. He reads what he has written from the point of view of "someone encountering the subject for the first time" (117). He takes out of the writing everything which is confusing or unnecessary. This is hard work because the writer must look at every single word, every single sentence, and every single paragraph to make sure they are not "cluttered" or disorganized. This hard work is worthwhile because it results in successful communication.
Rose is inspired by a teacher to do better. Even though he is "not [the teacher's] best student, . . . but I worked very hard" (124). Rose began to read, to study, to pay attention in class, all habits which were new to him and did not come easy. In Rose's case, the hard work did not result in high grades, but he impressed his teacher with his determination and his teacher responded by pulling strings and getting him into a respectable university. He graduated and became a successful writer,...