And All of This Comes Down to This One Thing

"If a piece of autobiographical writing is an essay, it has already moved beyond private confession or memoir to some shareable idea, for which the personal experience works as evidence."
-Gordon Harvey, "Presence in the Essay"

This, the shareable idea, is what I think a thesis really is. I've seen a lot of students struggle with thesis (both on the idea level and the word level; it's a terribly intimidating academic word that is simply not fun to say or hear if you have not been warmly introduced to it at some early part of your life), but I think this could clear some of that confusion up.

I switched to using the word purpose during my summer session class, and that helped. I think the phrase shareable idea tacked onto purpose would be even more benefitial because it not only speaks to the thing (the idea) but it has purpose and audience embedded in its language (shareable, as in something intended to be given or taught to other people).

Also, the concept of the shareable idea makes sense to me because that is why Writing classes exist, isn't it? To help people share ideas better? I know argument is an important word, along with debate, but those seem to set up hesaidshesaid or meversusyou situations before students even get into the idea we ask them to birth and nurture and send out into the wide, wide world. The shareable idea could be a response to a poem or a story. It could be a proposal to fix potholes or stop smoking. It could relate lessons learned from prison time or landscaping jobs. It can be anything that formed in one head and grew into something transferrable to another.

Can we simply share ideas intelligently and objectively?