[CAUT] CAUT credential vs. academic program?

[Ron Nossaman]

> I don't see the need for a college degree for a CAUT, any more than for 
> a top-level commercial electrician.
>  
> And why would a CAUT need a music degree?  Shouldn't piano instructors 
> be RPT's, then?  Yes, knowledge of music is helpful, moreso in specific 
> situations, but you can regulate without knowing the structure of a sonata.
>  
> Say this pithier and funnier for me, Ron N....
>  
> --Cy--  

No promises.

When people assume I must play if I tune, I tell them I'm a 
mechanic, not a performer, and the guy in the pits isn't the 
one driving the race, but we in the pits make the race 
possible. And yes, I see and classify myself as a mechanic 
with no more exotic or self-aggrandizing a description. The 
techs with the degree, or even "just" those who play, largely 
insist that a tech can't be effective unless he's them, 
essentially. Meanwhile, the techs who don't play and aren't 
possessed of the academic and pianistic performance 
credentials and capabilities generally fail to see how they're 
sub-standard as a technician because of it. As I've pointed 
out in probably altogether too many other instances, anything 
this ostensibly critical ought to be obvious in practice. In 
other words, those who have music degrees, or those who play, 
should be producing piano work that is clearly if not vastly 
superior to those who haven't, and/or don't. If they aren't, 
detectably, (your call) it strikes me as a non-issue anywhere 
beyond the realm of academic pretense/prejudice and into 
objective real world performance requirements. We are what we 
can or can't do, whether the bureaucratic mind can grasp it or 
not. This is just another echo of the age old logic error 
implying that if there are high function individuals in an 
organization, then everyone in the organization is high 
function by association. It's ok to be good at something. I 
think it's essential that we aspire to just that to whatever 
degree we're able, but it's a personal worth thing, rather 
than a membership association thing.

I've considered lobbying for an Agnostic PTG classification, 
but I expect it'd be in committee for a very long time without 
ever getting to the testing criteria. Too bad. It could make a 
cool T shirt.
Ron N