Re: What do you think?

[Eric Haddock <ehaddock -at- ENGAGENET -dot- COM>]

   Ooh--what planet is the author from? Is this the proof of extraterrestrial
life we've been looking for? It must be! Neat! It actually happened in my
lifetime--yay!



>Still other instructors have consciously decided against using
>computers in their classrooms

   Perhaps they don't want to spend any time training someone who doesn't know
how to use the computer. This is a problem with the school--not the course or
the instructor. The school should require a computer prerequisite or knowledge
or something such to make sure that instructors don't have to teach anyone
anything but technical communication skills (which include software skills).
Computer use shouldn't be there. Specific software use very well might be (like
FrameMaker) but not general computer use.

   Not using computers in the classroom is like making students use manual
typewriters. What's the point of that?



>First, they argue plausibly that the majority of technical
>communication in the workplace is still paper-based

   Oh, there's a word for this kind of false logic argument but I can't think
of it.
   The format of output, nowadays, hasn't much to do with the tools--because
all the tools are computers. If it's a web page, a paper manual, or a
mousepad--everything's done on computer. No one uses paper to make paper.
Remember self-contained word processors, the heavy boxes that had a wee TV
screen and a wee printer that you could carry around but all you could do was
type and print stuff? I don't either.



>many
>students will be entering companies where they could certainly get by
>with little more than basic word processing skills

   Ooh--things are nice on the author's planet. I wonder what the weather's
like. Are there waterslides and cotton candy treats too?
   The author reveals the fallacy of that argument by word choice:  "get by."
What instructor wants to teach students to merely "get by?" Who in any
profession wants to just "get by?" Do you want to just "get by?" Hell, I could
fly an attack mission in a jet by reading all the instructions--anyone could.
If the weather was clear, the terrain level, and the target plainly visible and
real close by, I could "get by" and drop a bomb like anyone else. Getting by is
easy. Unfortunately, things are never so easy in the real world. Overcoming
difficulties defines what a professional is and illustrates the difference
between a good technical writer and a bad one.



>these
>instructors argue that their courses are intended to teach technical
>communication, not computer literacy

   This smacks of "I don't know the software myself, and I'll be damned if I'm
going to learn something I'll never really have to use." Teaching is a
bitch--we all know this. Why is it a bitch? Aside from the crappy pay, little
respect, and administrative headaches out of proportion to their job, it's
because teachers have to put up with a mix of students. Some know most
everything, some know next to nothing. It's the next-to-nothing students that
make it difficult and can drag the class down--but they must be taught like
everyone else. If it's a good school, students are more even. If the school
doesn't have the funding or facilities to teach basic skills then more
lesser-knowledgeable students leak in.
   But if the teacher doesn't know the tools, teaching becomes especially
difficult and some might pose an argument to lessen their responsibility (that
by itself isn't bad--we all do whatever we can to make our lives easier--but
this goes too far).

   Would you want to go to a school knowing your instruction would be
antiquated from the very start--knowing that your industry thrives on being
modern?



>Computers and networks are, as Dale Spender (1995) notes, an
>environment of privilege-created by privileged white men and used
>mostly by them-and those environments are quite often forbidding to
>women and people from disadvantaged groups

   Made by white males--that I'll buy. It's tragic that males dominated all
things scientific especially in electronics. Used mostly by white males today?
Eh, true depending where you are. In the midwest--yes. In any place
cosmopolitan, no. It also depends on occupation. I work in the
software/hardware industry and I've met just one non-male engineer. However,
technical writing seems to be dominated by women and all technical writers use
computers. Graphic design has seemed closest to a 50/50 mix. But, I don't think
any of these ratios have anything to do with the nature of computers and women.
What's the argument? Elephants weigh X tons, loaded trucks weigh X, so
elephants must do all our trucking?
   Forbidding to women. Hmm--could that be any _more_ sexist? Why not just say
women are inferior and are basically incompatible with tools created by males?
That sounds scientific doesn't it? Did the author pen that down while he was
waiting for his 1/2 pound burger in the topless sports bar?
   But, once again, things are different on the author's planet so who am I to
say?



>in the hopes students will find an employer willing to
>train them

   All jobs require some kind of training even if it's just administrative
procedure. I'm interviewing people for an administrative asst. and I've just
gone job hunting in the Seattle area (where I got a job Yay!) and I've come to
a conclusion about the whole process:  people want people they will have to
train the least. The more you know out of the box the more likely you'll be
called in for an interview. You can know less and still get hired if you give a
good interview--but then you're relying on someone with more knowledge than you
to interview poorly.
   It's the "skill set" heading on your resume that will pique the interest of
the interviewer I've found. You could be a fantastic person and worker--but if
you don't know software X and someone else does, the someone else will be
called in before you will. Oh, and salary can be affected by this as well,
either intentionally or not.



>What do you think?

   If the author could send us photographs (on paper or other flat/thin media
[i.e. scannable]) of his planet, that would be way cool. I'm not rich but open
for barter.



Regards from beautiful Wisconsin!

  Me--> mailto:moonlion -at- full-moon -dot- com  http://www2.pitnet.net/moonlion
Work--> mailto:ehaddock -at- engagenet -dot- com  http://www.engagenet.com

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