UK writing instruction rejiggered

Here's the one and only passage I've ever seen on British writing instruction:

[Judith] Koren describes how two British women she knows became effective essayists and speakers. “Each week, they’d had homework exercises like this: While preserving every essential point, reduce a 100-word essay to 50 words, then to 20, then to 10. Reduce 500 words to 50, 1,000 words to 100. Week after week, year after year...."

(appeared in American Enterprise Magazine)

I haven't done this with Christopher because it's too much on top of everything else. (Maybe it's not too much, but I haven't worked up the nerve.)

The part that's too much is the 100-word essay. I don't see myself pulling 100-word essays out of C. any time soon.

So now I'm wondering whether I could just hand him a 100-word essay or paragraph someone else has already written, and have him start whittling that down 20 to 50 words a pass.

I think I'll try it.