Certification

Subject: Certification
From: John Renish <John -dot- Renish -at- CONNER -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 08:38:40 PST

Garret Romaine wrote:
<snip>
The only people who have anything to fear from certification are those who
manage to log most of the following bullets...

* scored low on their SAT
* flunked out of school
* lied on their resume
* committed a serious felony on purpose and never regretted it
* relied on the spell-checker a lot
* never joined STC
* got kicked off this mailing list
<snip>

One would also hope for condemning to the lowest circle of Hell those who
confuse number (their resume, indeed). I guess I scored low on my SAT--1360
in 1960 was only the 98th or 99th percentile. I spell better than just about
anybody I know, but I would *never* submit a job that I hadn't run past the
spelling checker. Also, I've never joined the STC, never having seen
sufficient reason to do so: If this kind of elitist attitude is pervasive in
that organization, joining seems counterproductive, if not immoral. These
flaws apparently make me the equivalent of an unrepentant felon. Maybe when
certification becomes a reality I can get my own radio talk show, like G.
Gordon Liddy.

As others have abundantly and intelligently demonstrated, establishing
rational criteria is impossible; therefore, a certificate would be
meaningless--what we have to fear is arbitrariness. One can only hope the
failure of the Australian Computer Society's certification program (thanks,
Scot) is a harbinger for such a program for technical communicators in the
US and, one hopes, the rest of the world. Once, some months back, I held
that certification was inevitable and that we must learn to live with it.
Today, esperanza glimmers 'neath the Southern Cross.

John -dot- Renish -at- Conner -dot- com
My comments are my own and do not represent Conner Peripherals


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