Re: A disturbing trend?

[Helen Hegelheimer <hxh -at- FORMTEK -dot- COM>]

I find this thread a "disturbing trend"..... seems the two of you might
discuss this back channel or perhaps on another list that is more appropriate.

Helen Hegelheimer
hxh -at- formtek -dot- com


> >  This observation may not mean anything, but I was disturbed by
> >  it nonetheless. Mom H. is teaching a course on communications skills to
> >  a group of techwhirler wannabes (mild pejorative) who are taking
> >  the course to retain their unemployment insurance benefits. However,
> >  few of the students seem capable of writing beyond the (charitably)
> >  high school level. I have the nasty suspicion that the
> >  provincial government, which sponsors the course, doesn't seem to
> >  think that you need to know how to write to be a techwhirler. Hmmm...

> I am in California and have seen the same thing. A local junior college offers
> a Certificate in Technical Writing after the completion of four writing
> courses. As a student in the last three courses, I've seen writing that my
> eighth-grade English teacher wouldn't have accepted. Three of the most common
> errors are incomplete sentences, incorrect tense (including invented words),
> and noun/pronoun agreement problems.

> Most students appear to be either unemployed and in a retraining program or
> recent immigrants whose first language is not English. I'd guess that 25% have
> a four-year degree. The friction between unemployed engineers and the wives of
> programmers here on work visas rises to the surface when internships are
> discussed. The unemployed want to be paid for internships; the wives, who are
> not allowed to work, want unpaid internships. The number of unpaid internships
> increase while the paid internships decrease.

> Sue Ellen Adkins
> sea -at- netcom -dot- com