[CAUT] Retesting (OT)

[Israel Stein]

Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:40:30 -0700 From: Susan Kline 
<skline at peak.org> wrote:
> And just as well that it didn't. Techs are independent cusses, who
> don't tolerate being forced to do something because some people in an 
> organization have decided to order them around.
>
> Before requiring ongoing education and retesting of the whole 
> RPT-holding Guild roster, one must consider how firmly attached they 
> are to the organization. Their dislike of being coerced (and of 
> tolerating the implied condescension), and the stresses on their 
> schedule and finances (which are often stretched to the breaking 
> point already) could easily find many of them dumping the 
> organization before submitting to ongoing new requirements which take 
> time and money.
>   
Well, Susan, you just can't have it both ways. If you want a more 
credible, more marketable certification - then you are just going to 
have to tolerate some of those impositions that our independent-minded 
members so dislike. And we might even have to bid farewell to some of 
them. And if you find these things intolerable - then let's not bother 
with trying to enhance the certification. In so many ways we piano 
technicians (and the PTG) want to have our cake and eat it too. Most of 
us don't bother with any formal training - but yet want to be treated as 
professionals on par with people who spend many years and thousands of 
dollars to learn their profession. We want people to respect the RPT as 
a credential on par with other credentials - but yet we are not willing 
to come up with the resources to develop and operate a credible program 
or put up with the expense, inconvenience and stress of subjecting 
ourselves to its demands (which other professionals accept as a matter 
of course).

Yes, continuing education is nice, and there are all kinds of ways to do 
it without coercing people and making them jump through hoops (including 
the sort that Ed is pushing). But if you want it to actually make a 
difference in terms of how our profession (and our professional 
certification) is perceived by the public and especially by 
institutional employers - then this cherished (and very expensive, by 
the way) independence-mindedness of these members you write about is 
going to have to bow to the reality of what it takes to have a more 
credible and marketable credential. You just can't have it both ways...

Israel Stein