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Subject:Re: Who can't write? From:Matt Hicks <matt -at- UNIDATA -dot- UCAR -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 18 Aug 1994 09:30:37 -0600
On Wed, 17 Aug 1994, Bonni J. Graham wrote:
> It's been exactly this kind of experience that has lead me to create Bonni's
> Theory of Engineering Writing Skills:
> The more an engineer protests that he or she can write "just as well as a
> writer" the more likely it is that he or she cannot. The less he or she
> protests this, the more likely it is that he or she can, but won't.
> Again, this is a generality, but one that my personal emprical evidence
> shows is mostly true. Your mileage may vary. >
I think this is true for the most part, and I think I can offer a reasonable
explanation for why it is (at least in part): You have to understand the use
of language and grammar to realize what your weaknesses in writing are. Thus
the people who don't write well don't understand what they are doing well
enough to realize when it's being done poorly, while those who do write well
are all too aware that there's always room for improvement.
I wonder too if this might not be analogous to the tradition (hopefully
on its way out) of expecting girls to be good at reading/writing but not
at math, and boys to have a complementary set of skills. It's been quite
well documented that this bias on the part of teachers can result in boys
and girls having pretty much the set of skills that they are expected to,
because the students themselves start to believe the biases are accurate.
Perhaps even the engineers who write well have come to believe that
"engineers can't write." Add to this the fact that the majority of
engineers are still male, and many of them presumably grew up in the
time of "boys don't write well" and you are left with a pool of people
who apt to believe they can't write.
I think Bonni's generalization is on the mark.
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