Re: Soapbox Time - general education

Subject: Re: Soapbox Time - general education
From: Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:13:25 +0100

I agree with Jane that it is, in many ways, down to how things are taught.
When I was at school "proper grammar" wasn't taught (fortunately I did
Latin for 3 years - good for grammar!) and this is a trend that seems to be
continuing. I've know teachers who have asked me what the different parts
of sentences etc are. Can't really blame the teachers as it's a knock on
effect - they can only teach what they're taught, what's on the curriculum
etc. When I did maths at school we covered the whole maths curriculum
(skimmed) and then concentrated on certain areas (mechanics or stats etc).
Things like calculus we did at least once from first principles (for
background) but the same teacher now says he's forced to teach almost by
rote as the curriculum has been messed about so much. The same applies
generally to the sciences and this, along with poor PR, has lead to fewer
people entering the sciences. Computing seems to be the exception as it's
viewed as being "modern" and pays well. Even when I did "A" levels at
school (pre-university) only about 10% were studying the sciences. If this
was in any way indicative of subject choices across the board it's no
wonder there is a shortage of engineers.

From a TW point of view this has a roll on effect (maybe good in some
cases!!). I agree with the general comments previously given on the list
that the main requirements for a TW is more how to write than how to use
the tools (both useful!!) but, certainly for some industries, a basic
"engineering knowledge" is required. This may be in avionics, electronics,
computing etc and yes it is possible to transfer skills but not always
easily. This can lead to companies trying to fit square pegs into round
holes and having a bad experience with TW and giving the profession a bad
name (I've seen it happen more than once).

Damien Braniff
Technical Author
PAC International

From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=




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