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<DIV>It would seem logical to first define what the duties of a CAUT should be,
and come up with a job description, then aim for excellence within these limits.
It is easy to rationalize a watering down of standards, but we can never
achieve perfection, at least I can't, and unless we aim high we may not
even attain mediocrity. The French philosipher, Voltaire once said, 'The
best is the enemy of the good'. Despite decades of educational effort, one still
sees an enormous amount of truly dreadful work being done, usually in
private homes of course. It stigmatizes us all. Ours is by no means the only
field which is plagued by poor quality of service. The Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation just made a documentary on computer servicing. They had a small
fault made in a computer, then called in ten different service companies.
Five misdiagnosed what was a simple problem, and recommended costly
replacement parts, two tried to sell a new computer, and one managed to escalate
the estimate to $2000, from what should not have exceeded $25. Two fixed the
problem correctly, but charged over $120. One technician, who worked in Best Buy
told how a woman brought her computer in and he found that it only needed
a wire to be plugged in, so he did not charge her, then was yelled at for half
an hour by his manager for not charging the minimum service fee of $50. Our
business is probalby lily white in comparison, but I think society needs to take
a hard look at itself. I know I am preaching to the converted, but let us not be
beguiled into the notion that routine work only requires routine effort or
abilities. The status quo does not exisist; one is either progressing
or lin a state of decline.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ted Sambell</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=fssturm@unm.edu href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">Fred Sturm</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org
href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 24, 2007 7:59
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [CAUT] CAUT
Endorsement</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=Verdana>On 10/23/07 8:18 PM, "David Ilvedson" <<A
href="mailto:ilvey@sbcglobal.net">ilvey@sbcglobal.net</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face="Times New Roman">How about starting with PTG and
enhancing it. Why all this re-inventing the wheel? Don't you
guys have other things to do?David Ilvedson, RPTPacifica, CA
94044<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=Verdana><BR>Hi
David,<BR> Let’s be clear here that the caut committee
is not a committee run amok, out chasing rainbows on its own. We are acting at
the specific direction of the executive board of PTG. The impetus from the
board has its origin in the president, Dale Probst. He draws his inspiration
and direction from the Long Range Plan. The Long Range Plan was developed at
the direction of Council, and was adopted by
Council.<BR> IOW, we are doing what YOU (this being an
all-encompassing you meaning the entirety of PTG, acting through its
representative body) have asked us to do. (The Long Range Plan includes goals
of creating various skills testing and accreditation systems beyond RPT in
specialized areas of our profession, including specifically higher
education).<BR> Over the past several years, we (the
caut committee) have discussed notions having to do with credentials of one
sort or another, and have tossed around various specifics and worked to more
or less create a groundwork – this taking the form of creating a regular
curriculum for national and eventually regional conferences. We never
seriously considered anything this all-encompassing and ambitious.
<BR> This summer we were asked by the board to
undertake the task of coming up with a practical design for a caut
certification of some sort, and directed to include skills testing, written
testing, and curriculum components. We are doing so.
<BR> Speaking for myself, I have lots of other things
to do. I am doing them as well <G>.<BR>Regards,<BR>Fred
Sturm<BR>University of New Mexico <BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>