Re: Another certification survey--would you do it?

[Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM>]

Chris Hamilton writes:

> Let's say the following certification program were put in place this
> year (THIS IS ENTIRELY HYPOTHETICAL.):
>
> -- run by STC
> -- based on passing an exam. You pass, you're a CTC.
> -- STC sells study aids
> -- the test costs $400 and can be taken one Saturday every other month
> someplace near you (let's say within an hour's drive)
> -- you must be recertified every 5 years
> -- STC is studying whether it should make membership conditional on
> passing the certification test within a year of joining

> Would you get certified?

No, of course not.  Not even if the grading were such that everyone
who put their name at the top passed the test.  My clients don't
know the STC exists, and in a way I tend to agree with them --
the STC publications tend to be so badly written that I almost
wonder if they're a spoof.  While there are many talented writers
in the STC, some very active in the organization, I would not
trust an STC *committee* to put a period at the end of a sentence,
let alone come up with a certification program that wasn't a total
waste of time.

And, anyway, I'm opposed to certification.  It's judgmental and
authoritarian, and the world has plenty of THAT already.

        -- Robert

--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139
http://www.pioneer.net/~robertp

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