Russian Studies programs

[Frank Poulin]

Hi All:

A number of people asked me to clarify which language I had in mind when I
spoke about the frustrating lack of job seekers who write well:  I meant
English.

In a few words, I've had great difficulty finding technical people who can:

1.  Write well (in English)
2.  Work independently
3.  Think creatively

And Renee Stillings is correct-- in the technology field during the last few
years, those who possess the above skills tend to get large raises, and
sometimes more than once per year.  Why?  Here's an example from my own
work:  One of my group's roles is to evaluate new technology for a federal
agency.  A good technical person who writes well and possesses the above
qualities can put together a 3 to 6 page whitepaper (which is a documented
technical study) on a specific type of new technology in about a day (after
spending anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months working with the technology).
However, a technical person who does not possess the above 3 qualities might
require more than a week to complete a comparable whitepaper, as long as he
or she has significant supervision on my part-- that is, when I have the
time.  Without supervision on my part, this person will most likely never
get the whitepaper done, even though he or she is technically gifted and has
already completed the technical portion of the work.  I'm in a competitive
business.  If my group can't get these studies documented, another company
will (if they're lucky enough to have someone on staff who is technical and
possesses the above talents).  In the computer field, the fate of
deliverables can mean the gain or loss of significant revenue.

Humanities departments should emphasize their roles in developing students'
abilities to write well, think creatively, and work independently.  This
should be your niche, not that of the business school or the engineering
school-- why should they be doing this?  It's really outside their sphere of
expertise.  Their expertise is on making profit and developing engineering
solutions.  If humanities departments would focus on the greatest and most
influential works of human creativity, and require students to write well
and often, I think the reputation of humanities departments would
drastically improve.  Slavic Departments are positioned nicely to take
advantage of the greatest and most influential works of human creativity.
You all should take the lead and let the weaker departments follow later.

Thanks,
Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Poulin <frankdp at EROLS.COM>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Date: Saturday, June 03, 2000 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: Russian Studies programs


>I supervise a team of test and evaluation engineers and technicians as well
>as computer systems deployment personnel.  Our work requires an
>understanding of switch, router, and server technology (I'm sure most
>readers have heard of Novell, NT, Cisco and Nortel).  These systems are not
>that difficult to understand, given 2 to 3 years of good experience.  They
>are certainly not as difficult as Russian-- even when combined.
>
>What I really prize is the employee who can write well.  It's not too hard
>to find employees, with or without college, who understand the technology,
>in spite of their high salary demands.
>
> It is difficult, however, if not at times seemingly impossible, to find
>someone who understands the technology "and" can write well.
>
>Because our work involves a great deal of customer interaction (not only in
>developing strategy papers and technical evaluations of new products for
the
>customer, but also in working with proposal-writing teams in pursuit of new
>business-- this stuff is extraordinarily fun by the way), any technical
>person who writes well offers our group a big bonus and is often
invaluable.
>
>In my opinion, the humanities might be gaining a reputation outside of the
>university as a 4-year long sensitivity-training seminar that sometimes
>seems to border on group therapy.  Just take a look at the weekly US News
>magazine to see what the public reads about the humanities.
>
>Really, I need people who can write well.  I need people who can think for
>themselves.  Promote Slavic Departments as a place where students do not
>just pick up a second language.  Promote Slavic Departments as a place
where
>students learn to write well and develop original ideas.  Promote the
>"great" and "universal" works--- Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pasternak (and add
>something about Goethe, Schopenhauer, and Hegel).  Teach them about Russian
>as well as European history.  Require students to write often.  And by all
>means, avoid this gender and ethnic balkanization that seems to have taken
>over some, if not many, humanities departments.  Lead other departments by
>your example.
>
>I know the above sounds naive, but if US News and other publications were
>praising graduates of humanities departments for strong writing and
original
>thinking skills and for their knowledge of the great works of human
>creativity, (rather than belittling their departments and schools for
>wallowing in ethnic and gender-oriented accusations), the reputation of
>humanities departments would be much better than it is today.
>
>Business schools and computer science departments have a lock on the
>technology.  Their professors know this and their professors are confident
>in their mission.  Humanities departments "should", and I repeat "should",
>have a lock on the development of strong writing skills and original
>thinking habits.  But they don't!  And it's becoming more and more apparent
>to those of us on the outside.
>
>Many on this list are professors.  Professors in the humanities need to
>reverse this trend.  And let me add that the generation that went to school
>in the 1950's can't reverse this trend themselves-- they are not
superhuman.
>I really need people who can write well and think for themselves.  It's
very
>competitive out here.
>
>All the best,
>Frank
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kenneth E Udut <simplify3 at JUNO.COM>
>To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
>Date: Thursday, June 01, 2000 6:36 PM
>Subject: Re: Russian Studies programs
>
>
>>[...]
>>> There is one skillset widely prized throughout the job marketplace,
>>> and that is
>>> computer literacy, the ability to sit down at any computer and
>>> figure out how
>>> to do what you need to do.  At a minimum, employers want people who
>>> can deal in
>>> the various subdivisions of MSOffice:  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and
>>> -- as a
>>> bonus -- Access.  A wide range of applications fans out from this
>>> central
>>> suite.  If we really wanted to make our students work-ready, we'd
>>> set up a
>>> curriculum which encourages them to use more types of software than
>>> just the
>>> word processor, without necessarily changing any of the content we
>>> touch upon.
>>
>>This is very true.  You can do *many* jobs -
>>even jobs that you could care less about,
>>getting varying rates of pay, if you learn
>>competence in the Microsoft Office suite.
>>
>>As an added bonus, learn a little macro-making
>>and Visual Basic for
>>Applications, and you can get hired at
>>any medium to large company.
>>
>>Of course, if universities and colleges
>>do that, humanities (the well-rounded individual
>>human being is king and queen) - that crazy
>>religion of schools and universities everywhere -
>>will certainly fall victim to the latest booming
>>religion - the religion of commerce,
>>efficiency, marketability, utilitarianism -
>>and colleges and unversities will certainly
>>become Trade Schools - which may not be
>>a bad thing in the short run - but in the long
>>run, who knows?
>>
>>The god of the "bottom-line" is gaining power
>>over universities and colleges, at least in
>>the United States it seems, and, like
>>the Invisible Hand of economic theory,
>>may push Slavists out the door if there
>>is no adapting.
>>
>>[and this way, the beloved philologist
>>will still have a home, and purpose].
>>
>>-Kenneth
>>
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