I had to write essays for subjects other than English from middle school onwards. IIRC mostly for history, with some geography as well. Key point being from my education, essays have always been about making a structured argument, and not exclusively about literature.
Same for me. When I was in the equivalent of high school, I had to write essays in Art, English, History, Geography, Latin, Biology, and Physics.
History, in particular, explicitly emphasised structured arguments and critical analysis of sources. I think we wrote short essays, in class, at least 3 times a week. We had a fantastic teacher and I remember it being good fun...felt like decoding puzzles.
Another example I can remember was in English. We spent several weeks reading, discussing, and writing about Brighton Rock in a very structured way. We were then given a creative assignment with 3 options; one was to write a screenplay, which I did. So at 14/15 I absolutely loved writing my first (and only) screenplay.
Maybe I was lucky, but I enjoyed writing essays at school.
