Summary and critique on Nutter's article from Central Works
In his article “History, Rhetoric, and Humanism,” Rutter talks about the common belief that technical communication mimics science and technology. Both are “rigid, monolithic, and devoted to formulaic thinking” (25). This belief puts more emphasis on aspects such as grammar, punctuation, and the more mechanic ideas of writing. Rutter states that in order to be successful, technical communicators need to embrace a liberal education, that tech comm “needs to associate itself more closely with the traditions of rhetoric and humane learning” in order to better communicate with others (22). In his article, Rutter mentions rhetorician Quintilian’s belief that an orator--a good person who can speak well--can convey ideas much better than a person who does not embrace this way of thinking. According to Nutter, a liberal education can help a tech communicator achieve this status of orator, that through a liberal education a tech communicator can value ideas as well as facts. This will help the communicator gain persuasion and empathy to cooperate with other individuals, and thus improve upon how to communicate ideas to the reader more effectively. In his conclusion, Rutter states that by adding a liberal education to the tech comm curriculum, a writer can function better in the workplace and have access to ways of improving their writing.
The core of tech comm is communication, and in Nutter’s essay, he gives valid reasons how a liberal education could help improve communicating with others. Although it is true that technical communicators need to have a solid understanding of how correctly to put documents together, we still need to have the skills to get the information we need. If we cannot communicate well with others, then our writing will not be as strong as it could be. By attaining these orator skills, we can better communicate with our colleagues and get more of the information we need for our work. Not only that, but we can also keep the lines of communication open with other writers. If two tech writers have to work together on a project, it is essential that they are able to communicate well with each other. Ideas can be exchanged and the projects can be improved upon. Perhaps one writer can offer more information on the subject, but would not do so if the lines of communication were not as open. With the tools of a liberal education, Nutter is correct in saying that the field of tech comm can only grow stronger.