Essays are not pedagogical
I've been reading through modern writing classics, and I realize that essays aren’t a great way to teach essay writing. Take the book Draft No. 4 by John McPhee. I sense that, naturally, writers care more about their writing than teaching. These craft essays take on the form of short memoirs with beautiful literary voice, but the theory is vague, peppered in, without nuance, and dislocated from related concepts.