RE: Writing in the workplace (long)

[snewmann@sfasu.edu]

Jon, even though we usually try to resist the Medical Model of a writing
center I think it might apply here.  People go to the doctor to make
something--their health--better.  They often go with a notion of what
needs to be repaired or changed or learned.  But the doctor does not let
that "knowledge" held by the patient interfere with his (or her) sense of
what to do for the client.  The doctor does (we hope) what will cause the
client to have the results s/he wants.  I have no problem with believing
that a client in my writing center is "wrong" about what s/he needs,
although I'd never tell the person that.  When they ask me to check their
grammar I ususally reply with "okay, but how about if at the same time I
notice (and point out) anything I find that might improve the clarity of
what you've said here--like organization or whether your point is clearly
stated and obvious or if you wander from the point."  The client usually
is eager for me to do these things and these things are almost always the
things that we end up spending our time together on.
				stephen


On Mon, 4 May 1998, Jon Olson wrote:

> At 10:33 AM 5/4/98 -0500, Barry Maid wrote:
> [snip] I would say that 95% of the time I get called in it's >to "teach 'em
> grammar."  I'd also say that at least 90% of the time >grammar is the least
> of their needs. [snip]>Perhaps the more important issue here is the
> underlying one that maybe >we, as professionals, don't really know what's
> important.  I'd suggest >just the opposite.  We *do* know what we're doing.
> [snip] Now I would agree that we in the academy too often push >"our" kind
> of writing on folks. [snip]
> -------------
> Thanks, Barry.  You're helping me understand the rhetorical situation I
> find so tricky:  I, the university professor, know what you need as a
> developing writer; you, the workplace professional, think you know what you
> need, but you're wrong.  
> 
> That may well be true, but that teaching stance doesn't always promote
> learning, let alone dialogue.  So how can we identify our ways with theirs?
> 
> I love Barbara's time-on-the-phone example as a way to help them change
> their minds about what they need.  --Jon, Penn State, jeo3@psu.edu
>