Kyle Wiens: A Theoretical Analysis

According to Kyle Wiens, a person must be able to know proper grammar in order to stock shelves or labeling parts (Wiens, p. 500). Wiens is a businessman and writer who is also the founder of iFixit and Dozuki (Wiens, p. 499). He provides an abundance of claims stating why he doesn’t hire people with bad grammar. These claims include good grammar makes a good business and reduces overall mistakes at the workplace (p.500). While reading this essay, I wasn’t moved by his statements and claims that job-seekers must be proficient in grammar for their resume to be a valid applicant. By simply relating his opinions to statistical and factual information, he could’ve easily made me believe he is a credible source. Wiens lacks a credible stance in

his essay by failing to add research and studies of grammar importance in the workforce shows that he isn’t a credible source.
Wiens said, “I have a ‘zero tolerance approach’ to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid.” (p.

499) Immediately, the inappropriate use of his language distances me from continuing to read. The tone of this statement comes off as one-sided and stubborn. Rather than approaching the statement in a scholarly fact, Wiens down plays the intelligence of his work with an ignorant remark. Also, when Wiens mentioned stocking shelves requires grammar proficiency, which is not true in most cases. Again, he doesn’t have creditable information to back up his claim. To make his statement credible, Wiens should have included a study based off of various shelf stocking hiring processes. This hiring process could have included what specific skill set or educational background a company requires their employees to obtain. Additionally, this study could have been collaborated with top warehouse companies in the United States with quotes and numerical information. Wiens said, “I’ve found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing- like stocking shelves or labeling parts.” (p. 499) Additionally, my best friend’s dad, Justin, is an immigrant from Cambodia who has trouble with English grammar. He immigrated to the United States on June of 1992. Justin has been working at an inventory warehouse for nearly nine years. Sine working at the warehouse, he learned to verbally communicate in English and is coherent to the language. However, he lacks an understanding of written English grammar. Although, for Justin’s specific job title, he doesn’t need to distinguish the difference between to and too. The relevance of this example displays the unimportance of the English grammar in certain jobs. Otherwise, Justin would have been terminated within the first few months on the job for continuing to make costly mistakes. Additionally, my second job was a sales associate at a boutique and the

owners didn’t not require me to prove my grammar skills with a test. The hiring process was simple for all of the associates who were offered a position. Unlike Wiens approach to the hiring process, the boutique owners based our applications and resumes on intelligence and creativity. At this point, I was seventeen years old and was already offered a supervisor position for my skills in customer service. However, I didn’t graduate yet nor did I begin my senior year. Additionally this year is the most important when it comes down to learning an abundance of new grammatical skills. Most importantly, I was not given a grammar test to prove my worth in sales.
Even with the hyper-competitive market he is willing to pass up on a great programmer who cannot write (Wiens, p.500).
Justin and I had outstanding performance at our jobs without being completely proficient in English grammar. The equivalent of having substantial knowledge in the English grammar is preforming at your job with hard work. However, this equivalence may only be suitable for labor heavy jobs or handy jobs. Therefore, specific jobs call for specific skills. However, jobs such a programing, engineering, and nursing all require grammatical skills to advance to a degree. Although, one can be successful in labor jobs without the need of proper grammar. Jobs such as a shelf stocker, labeling items, and plumbing, requires employees to be skillful with their hands. According to Wiens, “Applicants who don’t think writing is important are likely to think lots of other important things are also aren’t important.” (p.501) Nearly all of Wiens statements is a generalized view of his applicants. If he were to include past experiences of hiring job seekers with writing mistakes on his grammar test, then that could be equivalent to a credible source.
Wiens states that applicants will say they’re detail-oriented but he makes certain of that claim with a grammar test (p. 501). Wines should have included statistics of why self proclaimed detail-oriented employees are better off taking a test to prove whether they are organized or not. Detailed-oriented can have various meanings. For example, one can have an eye for specific details such as an imperfect line
Wiens leaves a kind warning to job seekers to be proficient in grammar, if they want to be hired in any job field. Unfortunately, Wiens can miss out on perfect candidates who have a creative mindset and a passion for their jobs. His hasty generalizations towards non proficient applicants reveals Wiens is one sided. He refuses to give qualified job seekers a chance to prove their skills, other than writing. The lack of sources in his essay shows that he may see outside sources and researches invalid. However, he lacks creditable information to make his claims believable. Therefore, statistical data could have been shown to make his argument credible. Examples such as stocking shelves, maintenance, and labeling parts don’t require an adequate understanding of grammar. For example, jobs that require customer service or handy skills don’t necessarily call for proficiency in grammar. All in all, Wiens isn’t a credible source for his essay since the majority of his claims are opinion based.