RE: OT - Errors on cover letters

["Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>]

My writing was not as articulate when I was younger as it is today, but it
was less likely to annoy people.  I didn't begin writing for business until
I was in my 20's and I was not a high school or college graduate (I took an
equivalency exam for high school and a few college classes, though).  I
apparently wrote well enough after leaving auto parts to get a job as a
technical writer.  I don't know how that happened.

Over the years, my writing has improved and I finished a bachelors degree.
I think that the writing ability of young people should be assessed
according to what they plan to do with their lives and their maturity for
communication in general, rather than by a comparison of their communication
abilities to communication standards.

Sometimes, a person can graduate high school, from what I've seen, with
skills in certain areas, but not necessarily the holistic skill set of
adults with effective communication and comprehension skills.  Some skills
for some people may not begin to develop until the person is older.  So I
think that each case of a bad resume should be evaluated according to its
own merits and the potential of the individual presenting the resume, rather
than according to the ideal of what that resume presentation should be.

Lauren

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lauren=writeco -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lauren=writeco -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> ] On Behalf Of Susan Hogarth
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 11:44 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Re: OT - Errors on cover letters
> 
> On Nov 5, 2007 2:17 PM, Michael L. Wyland 
> <michael -at- sumptionandwyland -dot- com> wrote:
> > ...
> > I'm depressed when I see poor examples of writing from people who
> > should know better.  ...
> 
> I am of course always ready to jump on the 'public skools suck'
> bandwagon. But. I think there is something we do need to consider:
> most people everywhere and at every time have been fairly poor
> speakers and writers. The *examples* we have around from, say, 100
> years ago are still around largely for a reason: people -liked- them
> and considered them worth keeping. The writing of semi-literate clerks
> and clerics and student was - deservedly - trashed.
> 
> Now there may well *be* an overall decline. I just like to point out
> that there is likely also this 'selection bias' in operation as well.
> Think about old houses: people often think that because they see so
> many shoddy houses now and because most of the OLD houses they see are
> very nicely built, that 'they don't build 'em like they used to'.
> Well, heck, the shoddy houses of yesteryear (and there were plenty!)
> have been mercifully pulled down (alas, largely to make way for the
> shoddy McMansions of today), so we tend to see a higher -percentage-
> of quality older homes than newer homes.
> 
> I just wonder if the same thing doesn't apply to writing and the (even
> more ephemeral) speaking.
> 
> -- 
> Susan Hogarth
> http://www.colliething.com
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