Using the Active and Passive Voice

Right now I have my head and phone leaning against my shoulder listening to one of the many instructional telecourse offered through my company. These courses, while good, are a pain if you have to hold a phone to your head for an hour. I don't get much out of these courses apart from a neckache. The course I'm listening to now is "Using the Active Voice and the Passive Voice."

The first ten minutes are spent hearing a sucession of beeps by people in the class muting their phones (*6) or people requesting hand outs that they didn't receive (they're supposed to download it from the intranet themselves before the class). Occasionally you might hear the instructor telling a person to hit *6 since the sound of the person eating over the phone or their heaving breathing is distracting to the class.

Sometimes, I feel like I don't get much out of these telecourses. For instance, how can you learn the rules of grammar in a matter of 45 minutes? The instructor and class review several questions pertaining to a particular topic. We're expected to learn strategies in writing more effective letters to people we deal with in business on a daily basis. If you're a college graduate (a requirement for most positions in the company) shouldn't you know the fundamentals of grammar and writing in the first place? Not being able to communicate or work effectively in an office setting and having to take a course to learn these fundamental skills is like a plumber who has been working in his field for several years having to be taught the basics of his trade when he should have learned it in the first place.

I feel akward at times taking these courses since they give me this feeling that I'm at fault for not being able to work to my best capacity. The only way I can describe it is being back in high school and you're told that you were assigned to the wrong class and that you actually belong in Special Ed. (My apologies for any of you reading this who attended Special Ed. I don't mean to diss you!) These courses make me feel like I'm in the dumb class and that I have to have to keep up with the rest of the class by taking a telecourse.

I guess the reason why telecourses work so well (apart from being cheap for the company) is that the person taking the course can't see you and you can't see them thus hiding your identity and your shame for not being the perfect worker. Also, wouldn't it be uncomfortable if you had to walk into a room and sit next to your fellow employees knowing that they're looking back at you knowing you have a particular issue when it comes to being effective in the office?

Imagine you finished attending a class and horrified, you notice someone points you out to their friend in the cafeteria. The one thing you can make out from reading their lips is "he has problems in organizing his work." Business-wise, that's the equivalent of "he can't get it up."

There's some courses that I have no idea what they're about. Courses like "Think Like DaVinci" or "Think Like Einstein" are vague but sound enticing . Perhaps I''ll sign up for them.

I finally hung up the phone ten minutes ago seeing that most of the questions asked were "How do I access the site again" or "Why don't I see the telecourse handouts for March?" You can tell some people are embarrased taking these courses when they start whispering their question over the phone so that heaven's forbid they're fellow cubicle members don't become aware that they can't put together a simple sentence together. I should know, I was guilty of this in a prior class.

I thought I would learn something new but I heard pretty much what I knew already and that's the problem with these courses. Ok not really a problem but I guess people who do take these courses hope some new revelation to make them more productive as workers. Perhaps if we spent more time reviewing what we wrote before e-mailing it, or if we took the time to file things when we receive a document, we wouldn't be so concerned in taking such courses.

I'll let you know how "Think Like ____" is next time it rolls around. Hopefully I won' t be so ashamed.