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-> Further to that: in my experience, many (but certainly not all)
-> Technical "writers" who are not degreed in the profession, and/or
-> who simply drifted into it from some other profession, are lousy
-> writers who do not understand the basic precepts of grammer, syntax,
-> punctuation, style . . .you name it. They embarrass the profession
-> and the companies they work for and take up job slots for which
-> qualified professionals are hungry and deserving. I'm for
-> certification, if for no other reason than to keep the bar rai
-> enough to filter these rascals out. There, I've said it a better.
A college degree no more guarantees literacy than a high school diploma,
or a driver's license for that matter. I used to work as a typesetter
for a university press, and the drivel that passed for scholarly writing
from some of their own faculty truly amazed me. So much for a Ph.D. and
numerous publications. Ptooey!
Good writing is something other than the result of years of education, I
think. I can always tell who spends more time watching TV than reading
books, regardless of their level of education. People either read or
they don't, and the ones that do are demonstrably more literate than the
ones who don't.
