Responds to Tony Silva's 1997 article, which asserted that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing teachers should prevent themes and topics from dominating or controlling the curriculum. This paper argues that it is sometimes helpful for writing teachers to control why and what students write, focusing on university-level English writing in general, and English-as-a- Foreign-Language (EFL) writing in particular. It examines arguments by Jones (1998a) that using teacher-assigned course themes and specific writing topics can help teach students about the processes and conventions of writing academic papers. Jones notes that assigning themes and topics can help motivate students to want to write well. According to Jones, teacher-assigned themes and topics may better help students prepare for the reality of writing academic papers for other classes, and it may also greatly reduce problems with plagiarism. The paper addresses Silva's discussion of academic freedom by saying that writing teachers may compel students to complete assignments they choose as long as they are convinced they are achieving course goals and acting reasonably in students best interests. Finally, it discusses how to cooperatively select themes and topics. (Contains 45 references.) (SM)