RE: What, Me Think? (was RE: clarification needed)

["Miller, Lisa" <Lisa -dot- Miller -at- Anheuser-Busch -dot- com>]

Anna wrote:

"Since anyone older than me taught me,whose fault is it
really? The students or the elders? I would like to think that I am abnormal
then most...I was raised to have critical thinking skills...is it solely the
teachers responsibility to teach a child? I think not..."

I feel compelled to respond to this line of thinking by pointing out that
personal responsibility is also on decline.  This attitude is very prevalent in
our society - taught victimization/dependence.  Once we feel like victims or
dependants, it is certainly easier to control us.  

This ties in with technical writing very much in two ways.  We are confronted
with attitudes such as "if this doesn't work, it's your fault because the
program/documentation/training failed me."  We are also confronted with the
attitude that "the user isn't happy because the user didn't want the
program/wasn't interested in the training/didn't read the documentation." 

I was thinking last night that it's not so much critical thinking as it is
innate curiosity - a desire to know, understand, and communicate.  I am most
happy when discussing any topic with the mutual desire to understand it.  Very
few minds are encouraged to develop this "gift."  In fact, for years it seems
that this behavior has been discouraged.  "If you need to know, someone will
tell you."  

The corporate world sometimes responds negatively to this because give and take
can be intimidating to management and peers.  It is too easy during give and
take sessions to become too close to the argument and therefore take the winning
and losing argument points too personally.  More debate/communication/philosophy
classes during college or even high school might better prepare future employees
with tougher skin and better communication tools in their toolbox.  It has taken
me many years to keep a distance between my emotions and the argument.  I'm not
sure I've got it all figured out even now.  

Before I get mail about being age-ist, I think victimization or dependence can
be learned at any age.  It can also be unlearned at any age.  There are reasons,
benefits, and determents that come with both.  

Society may in fact benefit from a dependant person in the "knowledge economy."
The ignorant are much less likely to rise-up in the short term, but eventually
the gap between those in "the know" and the "barbarians" creates two separate
societies, and I believe history bears out that those "in the know" are less
prepared for revolution than the "barbarians."  In my opinion, we are better to
keep all as much in "the know" as possible to hold onto our way of life for as
long as possible.  This is why public education is public and requires our
support and best attention.

Lisa A. Miller
Technical Writer 
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Packaging Team - Corporate Engineering
mailto:lisa -dot- miller -at- anheuser-busch -dot- com
(314) 865-8904

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
                                                          -- Benjamin Franklin


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