RE: On Summer Help

["Kieffer, Barry" <Barry_Kieffer -at- adc -dot- com>]

Theresa, what you write is correct, but, but, but, what I meant to do this
with some amount of supervision.

Theresa writes:
<snip>
Wow!  This is more than I was allowed to do at my first tech writing job 
after I had earned a college degree and proven myself with 3 internships 
after college. </snip>

Yes, and how did it make you feel, Theresa, Dr. Kieffer asks soothingly? 

<snip>
Allowing a student to write original content assumes that this 
student is going to be able to address a professional audience- when they 
have never been in a professional environment. </snip>

I would never expect a student to create original content on the stuff that
I document, ATM, T-1, SNMP, or Frame Relay networking stuff. But there is
plenty of stuff that a novice can write - preface stuff comes to mind -
introduction stuff too.

<snip>
How can they start a corporate style guide when they have never had to
create a project that was 
not a double-spaced essay for their 10th grade english class? </snip>

Oh, come on Theresa, high school seniors can, and do, write some pretty good
stuff. 

<snip>
I agree that you can try to give your summer helper more work than just 
xeroxing and filing, but remember what you are working with. You can't 
expect someone to produce quality work when they have no clue what it is 
like to even be in a work environment. </snip>

And that is why we should treat them as adults (which they are). If this is
the first experience they get in the workplace, it should be positive. 

And maybe after their university studies, they will return to work for your
company. A win-win situation.

-Barry Kieffer