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Bear with me. Last week, I ranted almost coherently
(I thought) about what can be the evils of certification.
I meant every word of it.
However... if there are TWO or more certifying agencies,
and neither/none of them has government force behind them,
then... I'm all for it.
Somebody made the point that when I look for medical help,
I probably feel reassured that my physician is certified.
Well, no.
If my physician is educated and capable, that's almost
coincidental to the fact that she's certified. The
motivating force in the medical association (of your
respective country) is political. The rules and oversight
are bureaucratic.
Now, if there were TWO or MORE certifying bodies, in
competition, and neither of them had a government mandate,
then I would have some confidence in one, the other, or
both organizations and the people they certify.
The first one to go over to the dark side would be the
first one to lose my confidence.
So, in fact, I believe certification could be a good
thing for technical writing, as long as there is untrammelled
free-market competition among certifying bodies.
I would want to see it written into the most fundamental
constitution/charter of any certifying organization, that
it must not/cannot ever seek to become -- or ALLOW itself
to become -- the state religion of tech writing.
So, I suggest that anybody who likes the good things that
certification has to offer should immediately start their
own non-STC organization. STC will react by getting their
program going, and we'll have some healthy competition.
If everybody lines up behind only a single effort, then you
are basically lining yourselves up for the slaughter (except
for the politically savvy, who have a chance to make it to
the top), and you are dragging the rest of us with you.
Competition is healthy. Monopoly and State mandate is actively
unhealthy. Go forth and multiply... certifiably.
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