The article titled what we learn from writing on the job by Lester Faigley and Thomas Miller mainly addresses the importance of having the designers of college curricula take into consideration the importance of inculcating writing skills for the future benefit of their students.
The two authors assert that college graduates should be able to write at a certain level of proficiency, which should also be in tandem with their respective professions. The authors argue that as much as most of the professional writing is learned on the job, it is the prerogative of the trainers to ensure that the graduates they produce are worth the professional accreditation they are given.
The authors argue that the literacy crisis can easily be linked to tertiary institutions of learning abolishing their writing classes. The study conducted by the two authors to establish the importance or academic training in writing reveals that individuals who are proficient in writing also tend to be effective in delivering oral presentations.
The authors conclude that writing is gradually being regarded as just one of the established methods of communicating instead of the fundamental basis on which professionalism is grounded. I completely agree with the authors’ opinions that the abolition of writing classes should be attributed to the literacy crisis.
This is primarily because I have personally discovered that the less I am required to write, the less I feel motivated to involve myself in learning through literary texts. This is particularly because the rapid technological changes in the communication have made it easier to pass a message across without necessarily involving the written text.
For instance, I can easily get the same information about Nelson Mandela from watching a documentary as I could have obtained from reading one of his anthologies.
The article titled writing in the professions by Anne Beaufort is primarily an analysis of the evolution of the research process as a factor of workplace writing. The author points out the relevance of the topic on professional writing by outlining a number of articles that have been written by various on the scholars on the same topic.
Beaufort explains that before the advent of computers workplace writing was held in high regard with most employers demanding that potential employees have proper writing skills. She then goes ahead to point out that with revolutions happening in every aspect of society, workplace writing evolved to factor in some amount of conscious deliberation and composition.
This, according to her was necessitated by the realization that individuals in management who did not possess proper writing skills ended up becoming liabilities to the enterprises owing to their inefficiency. The impact of technology on the writing approaches of various professionals has also been underscored.
Beaufort has included an analysis of writing in professions ranging from accounting at the International Monetary fund (IMF) to air traffic control. Her sole aim in this extensive exemplification is to show a correlation between writing and technological changes. The author comes to the conclusion that students need to know how to appropriately apply research skills depending on the situation that they find themselves in.
I support Beaufort’s conclusion because it is easy to note the importance of research in each and every profession. As such, tutors and instructors should strive to ensure that there students develop proper research and analytical skills for the sake of effectiveness in their future careers.
The two articles both touch on the importance of students developing proper writing skills for the purpose of future effectiveness at the workplace. However, the articles are not specific on which elements of learning need to be worked on and this leaves room for more research.
Below are two questions whose analysis would provide guidelines as to the particular changes that need to be made to the education and professional system in order to create effective workers.