I can teach any student to write opinion.

* The biggest challenge: Avoid building barriers between forms of commentary,

Don't tell me that editorial writing can't be taught because if it can't, then I've wasted a 24-year career in the classroom teaching my favorite course.

During that timespan I like to think that I've at least planted the seeds of what, in my opinion, is required to write effective editorials and columns in the minds of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, some of whom have gone on to become full-time opinion writers. So let's kill the notion that our craft is somehow beyond the help of a teacher.

Actually, my introduction to the art of teaching opinion back in 1973 got off to a shaky start. My department chair at the time called me in to work out my first teaching schedule. He mentioned that a course on editorial writing (then called editorial interpretation) was on the chopping block because of lack of student interest. He knew my background in journalism and the fact that I had written editorials and a column along the way.

I convinced him to let me have a run at teaching the course. The rest, as they say, is history - well, history in my wee orbit.

Over the years I've refined the course to make it more relevant and appealing. I changed the name from "editorial writing" to "opinion writing" to open it to other forms of commentary. The op-ed page and the editorial page get equal treatment.

That simple change had a profound impact on students who viewed editorials as stiff and unappealing, without verve or life.

My discussions, however, emphasize that institutional editorials can be just as appealing in the hands of a good writer and editor as the most thoughtful column with individual personality. I do discipline the writing to 500 words for an editorial and 750 for the column.

Frankly, I've found that most students blossom when they phase out of editorials. There's something intimidating about them that no doubt has to do with the sage voice of "the newspaper" versus the more comfortable voice of an individual.

The most challenging thing about teaching opinion writing is not to build barriers between the editorial page, the op-ed page, and the other pages that carry commentary as well as stressing that good, creative writing and editing can and should be the standard, no matter what the form.

Another thing I did was to open the class to any student with junior standing or above in any of the academic disciplines of the university. In other words, you don't have to be a journalism/communications student to qualify.

My simple belief is that I can teach you to write opinion without the benefit of journalism skills courses. What I want are your intelligence and bright ideas. I have had undergraduate and graduate students from anthropology, philosophy and religion, political science, international relations, and the sciences. Not all have been roaring successes, but each has helped enrich the dialogue.

The course takes a hard look at the art of editorial cartoons, the creativity of the obituary editorial, and the use of letters to the editor. In fact, a course requirement is that each student make a good-faith effort to have published a letter that takes exception to a published editorial, column, editorial cartoon, or another letter to the editor. They become rebuttal writers who poke holes in shallow argumentation and sloppy writing. They don't identify themselves as students unless it is pertinent to the core of the opinion piece that draws their response.

So, yes, editorial/opinion writing can be taught. It takes some high energy and imagination on the part of teachers and students, however.

The next question, of course: Can news writing and reporting be taught, and are those skills necessary before one becomes an opinion writer? As I've already stated, I don't think it should be a requirement. But a more detailed discussion will have to wait for another day.

Opinion writing: A course offering

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is excerpted from the full syllabus of a graduate-level course on opinion writing taught by Laird Anderson in fall 1996 at American University's school of communication.

Purpose: The purpose of this course is to prepare you to write effective commentary and to develop your ability to judge the worth of opinion columns. This preparation should also enable you to better assess news columns and analytical and interpretive articles as to possible writer bias.

Readings: Pulitzer Prize Editorials: America's Best Editorial Writing, 1917-93 (Sloan and Anderson)

Editorial Excellence, Volume II (NCEW)

Highly recommended: The Why, Who and How of the Editorial Page (Rystrom)

Get in the habit of reading and clipping articles from newspapers, magazines, and other publications you read. These clippings could become the basis for editorials and column ideas, so maintain a good clip file.

Start immediately to analyze editorials and other forms of opinion writing based on the