Re[2]: Master's Degree

[Matthew Flynn <maflynn -at- DTTUS -dot- COM>]

     Alex and all,

     Note that it is a "degree in professional writing" and not a
     "professional degree in writing".  There's a big difference.

     A MA is not a professional degree.  It is a liberal arts degree
     indicating that the student is knowledgeable in the arts, and
     particularly in the art of professional writing.  Someone with
     an MA probably has a good idea of the theories involved in writing--
     e.g. minimalism vs. comprehensiveness or E+.  The person most likely
     has a solid grounding in critical approaches to the problems in-
     volved in writing (this is what those lit classes are for).  And
     the person should know her way around a library and how to verify
     and properly document information sources (that's what that research
     methods class is for). No MA course is about what we do every day in
     the office.  It's the study of an art.

     Of course, the next level is a PhD--that is, a doctorate in the
     Philosophy of writing.  This does not indicate a good writer but
     someone who knows a boatload about writing.  In obtaining such a
     degree the student at some point must analyze a fair bit of writing.
     We can only hope that some of this is analysis lends to her
     development as a writer herself.

     If you want a professional degree, go to DeVry or ITT Tech.  They'll
     show you haw to use tools.  If you really want to understand the
     wherefores of professional writing--beyond the narrow scope of
     whatever job you may already have--then enter an MA program.

     Cheers,
     Matthew Flynn
     Technical Writer
     Deloitte & Touche Tax Technologies LLC


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Master's Degree
Author:  Alex Ragen <alex -at- CHECKPOINT -dot- COM> at Internet-USA
Date:    7/10/97 10:19 AM


TWs --
Now I'm really confused. Pete Kloppenburg wrote:
"I believe anybody who takes an MA in professional writing with an eye to a
job down the road is wasting their time and money.  Do it because you want
to, because you are interested, because you enjoy school. "

Being as I am a straw chewing hayseed from the backwoods, I innocently thought
that the word "professional" distinguishes those who get paid for what they
do from those who don't. So ... if a degree in "Professional Writing" doesn't
prepare a person for making a living at writing, what does it prepare a
person for? And if the program doesn't teach "project planning,
HTML coding, online help development, printing," then what exactly is it
preparing the student for? Could it be - perish the thought - that
universities don't actually prepare students for life in the real world,
but only for life in the university? Where are professional writers
supposed to learn the craft? In Left Bank cafes?

If professional writing programs are anything like creative writing
programs, then User Guides would be cryptic, useless and unorganized,
conveying no real useful information at all, when in fact this is true only
of Microsoft's books. So I conclude that most tech writers did not learn
their stuff in professional writing programs, and I can only hope that this
trend continues.
--Alex
===================================================
Alex Ragen - Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Home of FireWall-1 - the planet's leading FIREWALL
alex -at- checkpoint -dot- com - http://www.checkpoint.com
===================================================

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