I know we’re supposed to be concerned about gender equality on the op-ed pages, but this article in the New York Times about Catherine Orenstein’s op-ed writing class and women is troubling for entirely unrelated reasons. The article says that several hundred people have taken the seminar, usually paying $5,000 to attend. This is how it describes what they get in return:

During the seminar Ms. Orenstein laid out a basic formula for writing a 750-word op-ed piece (with the caution that “common sense trumps everything I say”): a lead connected to a news hook, a thesis, three points of evidence, conclusion. And don’t forget the “to be sure” paragraph in order to pre-empt your opponents’ comeback, she instructed.

Forget the debate over whether or not women are sufficiently represented in our newspaper opinion pages. You’re telling me that Orenstein convinced a bunch of educated professionals—many of whom, it seems, work in advocacy—to pay $5,000 to learn the basic three-point essay formula most school systems start teaching in middle school?