I had several teachers in both high school and college ask for writing assignments that had maximum word counts. e.g. “Write an explanation of the significance of the Treaty of Westphalia, in no more than 1500 words.” Those writing assignments were, to me, more difficult than the ones that had minimum word counts, because they required you to get to all the major elements of the response in a minimum of space, leaving space for explanation and implication.
And, for what it’s worth, writing in the “real world” is far more like this. Journalists, for example, rarely have minimum word count limits, but very often have maximum word counts.
I had several teachers in both high school and college ask for writing assignments that had maximum word counts. e.g. “Write an explanation of the significance of the Treaty of Westphalia, in no more than 1500 words.” Those writing assignments were, to me, more difficult than the ones that had minimum word counts, because they required you to get to all the major elements of the response in a minimum of space, leaving space for explanation and implication.
And, for what it’s worth, writing in the “real world” is far more like this. Journalists, for example, rarely have minimum word count limits, but very often have maximum word counts.