RE: Certification--a new concept. Discuss

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>]

> From: David Neeley [mailto:dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com] 
> 
<snip>
> 
> Let's take this statement from a recent post:
> 
> > By definition, techical writing is not a profession. Many 
> years of highly
> > specialized education is not required for technical 
> writing, and that is a
> > basic description of what "profession" refers to.
> > 
> > Being a professional technical writer or a professional 
> technical editor is
> > not the same thing as being a member of the technical 
> writing profession,
> > primarily because there is no such profession.
> 
> However, that statement relies upon a misleading notion of what a
> "profession" is--it is far too limited to one particular definition.
> For example, the Cambridge Dictionary of American English says:
> 
> "profession
> noun [C/U] 
> any type of work, esp. one that needs a high level of education or a
> particular skill
> the medical/teaching profession
> I'm a writer by profession."
> 
> If it were true that technical writing were not a profession, then
> surely the Cambridge authors are mistaken totally with their example
> involving just "writers."
> 

I would like to agree with you, but I cannot. There is the dictionary
meaning of "profession" that you cite, but there is also the well-known
separation of "the professions" from literally all other forms of work. The
profession usually require licensure. However, if you mean only the first
sense, my objection would seem to be removed. 

I do think that the term "profession" has been used rather with an intent to
locate technical writers in the same major category as physicians,
engineers, lawyers, and other professions so as to have a little "lustre" of
the professions rub off on technical writers.  It's that usage alone to
which I would object.


> I offer this example not to attempt to embarrass anyone, but to point
> out that the "soft" disciplines such as English or the humanities are
> far more difficult to pin down to any easy method of measurement.
> 

I don't tend to get embarrassed when I make a mistake unless I've done so
while pointing out someone else's supposed mistake, so you haven't
embarrassed me.

> Furthermore, our methods of describing what "good writing" might be
> are limited and too often imprecise. Thus, attempts to produce any
> sort of meaningful certification must focus on tools and basic skill
> in areas such as organization and grammar...or be judged in part at
> least by subjective means.
> 

Verbal communication can't ever really be "precise" in the way that
mathematics can.


> However, to say the problem is difficult is not to say it should not
> be undertaken. To say that *your* view of certification may be
> jaundiced is not to say that it might not become meaningful in the
> hiring arena.
> 

David, are you talking to me, Bonnie Granat, or someone else? 


> Many people view this issue from what appears to be a wrong
> perspective--which is, I believe, what Dick was speaking about when he
> began the thread. In the end, certification and professional societies
> will continue to be what we make them--and will only become truly
> meaningful to others as we begin to take them seriously.
> 
> I believe it is highly unlikely that any sort of general consensus
> will result in a workable certification. Instead, if it is to happen,
> it will be because a few people will institute it and many others will
> go along--however grudgingly.
> 
> The simple fact that this is such a recurring topic and is
> participated in by so many on the list may be signal enough that it is
> high time we quit complaining and got to work making it happen.
> 

I agree.


Bonnie Granat | http://www.GranatEdit.com
bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US



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