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I'm convinced there must be a prescribed US essay structure that mandates describing what you're going to discuss in the essay - it has been poorly translated into the style for youtube videos.

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Yes, this is literally the case from grade school all the way into college level technical writing courses. The first paragraph, or first section depending on the length of the work, should essentially be a high level summary of the entire work. I remember in middle school we were also taught to write our paragraphs this way, that is, the first sentence should be a gestalt of the entire paragraph. The conclusion of each paragraph, and also the conclusory paragraph itself, is also supposed to have this behavior to some extent.

It took me quite a few years to realize how dry, boring, and repetitive this makes your writing, and I now choose to write as I talk. Might make for worse documentation, but it's far better for conversing with other people either in real time or in back-and-forths via email.

Say what you're going to say (briefly)

Say it (at length)

Say what you've said (briefly)

Is how you successfully present things in the US

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