Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My engineering education dates from the early 1980s, but at UC Davis at least writing reports, GOOD reports that people could understand and which were literate, was a part of the general engineering curriculum that all engineers were required to take. The University also had entrance tests to discern who could actually write an essay in English that someone might, should they read it, have a shot at understanding. I used to carpool with one of the specialists who taught that course and the amount of understanding she brought to her course was well beyond what a vast majority of the engineering faculty had at their disposal. Teaching writing and composition is a specialized field, just like teaching circuit design, chemistry or any other field. It seems natural to me to let those who studied how to do it actually do the job they studied for. On the other hand the demand for well-written reports and essays in the sciences and in engineering seems even more crucial now than it ever has. But in an era where some elementary curricula are designed around using Power Point (shuddering) I wonder how well we're going to be doing a decade from now. Adam On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 14:32:08 -0500, Jeffery Smith <jls@runbox.com> wrote: > > I have tried to push "writing across the curriculum" at three different > colleges, and each attempt has invoked cries of "academic freedom" being > violated. The invention of the scantron hasn't helped our cause either. > > Jeffery Smith > New Orleans, LA