Re: Non-technical, Technical Writers

["Hutchings, Christa" <cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM>]

John Gilger wrote:

> PC is so pervasive in the classic liberal arts arena that it is hard
> to
> find a program that emphasizes critical thought.  Perhaps St. John's
> in
> Maryland still does, but Berkeley, Columbia Harvard, Yale and the rest
> of that group have completely sold out to PC.
>
Aaah, yes, very sad but true. Several years ago, I interviewed a TW who
was a graduate of a once respected liberal arts school here in the
South. She claimed to be a 4.0 English major, but had never heard of
John Milton!

This person had concentrated on Afro-American literature, but before
anyone goes off half-cocked and calls me racist for mentioning this, I
want to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against someone who
wants to study Afro-American literature, but I sure found it curious
that a school would graduate an English major who had never read Milton!
(Maybe in the school's desire to add courses on Afro-American literature
and Oriental literature, etc., they forgot what a GIANT John Milton is
in English literature?)

And no, we didn't hire this person, but not because she didn't know
Milton (actually this tidbit came up in a casual conversation unrelated
to the traditional interview process - I *don't* ask TW candidates about
John Milton while interviewing them!). We passed on her because she had
no experience documenting electronics or telephony equipment and the
position called for someone with experience in those fields. Otherwise,
she seemed to be a fine candidate - well-spoken, bright, personable,
etc., and in retrospect was probably a better bet than the guy we did
hire (who had a B.S.E.E. and M.A - English, but turned out to be not so
good as a tech writer).

Chris