For more than 40 years, I have coached high school students and their teachers on the craft of the personal essay, especially the one that might help a senior gain admission to the college of their hopes and dreams.

I offer this service free of charge, an expression of a kind of mission to create a more literate society. Some families pay plenty for tutors who specialize in college admissions, or lean on ghostwriters, or — in the age of AI — depend on writing robots.

My goal as a teacher is to coach students, or any aspiring writer, to create the essay that only they can write, one that reveals their virtues and persuades admissions officers to accept them.

To help students write a good essay — and an ethical one — I’ve written a new book.…