Re: Off topic: educational methods

[Judith Davidsen jdavidsen@xxxxxxxx]

I have noticed over the past year or two an intensification
of the tendency to hire top editors who have the skills to
market the product but not the skills to produce a good
product.

This tendency has been accompanied by the hiring of copy
editors by publications that never had copy editors before,
and the top editors who hire them have no way of knowing
that a copy editor with a mile-long cv of courses taken and
yards of shelves filled reference works on grammar and usage
may also have a tin ear; that a copy editor with a
scientific background may not be the best choice for a
publication that aims to be light and frothy; that a copy
editor with a technical background may be quite precise but
have no idea that you can't change material that occurs
between quotation marks.

>From what I've experienced and what I hear, this leads to
quite a bit of wrangling between freelancers and copy
editors, and non-stop grumbles and glares directed at copy
editors by staff writers. And if the top editor doesn't have
a clue, there's no recourse. If I were one of these copy
editors, I'd sit like a lump in your classroom too.

Perhaps asking what problems they have with writers might
start a discussion, which you could then guide to the matter
at hand.

Judith Davidsen 

> ---------------------------
> Friday, 14 March 2003, 5:18:20 PM, Patricia wrote:
>
> > Since there don't seem to be any burning technical issues just now, I
> > wonder if I might ask some of the professors who frequent this list for a
> > comment or pointer or something? Besides being an editor, I teach English
> > grammar to other editors in courses offered by editorial professional
> > associations. What I do is hand out a series of sample sentences and
> > short paragraphs, ask questions ("Does anyone see any problem in the
> > first sentence?" "How would you fix it?"), and encourage discussion
> > (Socratic-Rabbinic-Confucian method). The problem is that the in last two
> > classes, no one wants to say anything. They just sit there, mumchance.
> > These are mature editors taking the course as a brush-up or "continuing
> > education," not timid undergrads. Is it, perhaps, that the current
> > economic situation has made people so terrified of antagonizing a boss
> > that they won't say boo to a goose? (Three years ago--2000--when I first
> > gave the course for this organization, they were all Clerkes of Oxenford,
> > enthusiastic and vocal.) Last year I even let them vote: Would you RATHER
> > sit and listen to me lecture, or shall we have discussion? They
> > unanimously voted for discussion, then sat there. Does this happen in
> > academe too? How can one deal with it? Or is it peculiar to professional
> > classes? If anyone can offer a suggestion, it will be gratefully
> > received, and if you're too busy and it's too far afield, my apologies.
> > Patricia