Thanks.


------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]
http://www.bchm.org

----------
From:   Ross Weeks[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, June 25, 1998 9:57 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: AAM, accreditation, etc. (long rebuttal)

Despite a good argument against some form of "professional" certification in
the museum field, there is a good middle ground between
accreditation/certification and nothing at all.   For some occupations,
(public relations, fundraising, tourism marketing, etc. etc.....we've all
seen the acronyms added to one's name) it simply serves as evidence that the
individual has learned, and has agreed to accept and practice, ethical and
other standards related to the field, and evidences some skill or knowledge
of the work he/she is doing.

The above three examples are, like museums, catch-all occupations.  Those in
these fields come from all sorts of backgrounds.  There are people like
these on the staffs of most museums.

To me, this type of program provides anyone who is interested with evidence
of the individual's professional standing -- not necessarily excellence, nor
particular specialized skills and talents, etc.

As to creating administrative nightmares for museums, this approach doesn't.
The person wishing accreditation or certification is the responsible party
and pursues it as part of continuing education in the field.


-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew White <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 1998 10:33 PM
Subject: Re: AAM, accreditation, etc. (long rebuttal)


>I'd like to buck the crowd a little and speak *against* the idea of an
>officially sanctioned accreditation sponsored by AAM.  I think it is an
>idea that has some merit, but I also see some problems with actual
>implementation, and besides, I hate to see anything be unanimous.
>
>  It may look from the outside that these plans work well for Doctor's,
>Lawyer's, Teachers, and Architects, but one thing we must remember is
>that if a museum professional is less than adequate at their job no one
>will die, no innocent people will go to jail, no building's will fall,
>and no one's children will be doomed to illiteracy.  A bad exhibit, a
>poorly planned event, a botched application grant just doesn't compare
>and will never create the sense of immediacy that an incompetent in these
>other professions will create.
>
>Will it create higher salaries for "accredited professionals?"  Maybe.
>But one need look no further than the growth of Physicians Assistants,
>paralegals, teacher's aides and adjunct faculty to see how many large
>institutions are hiring less credentialed people and shoving more work on
>to less qualified people.  I myself was told point blank by more than one
>person that I was LESS marketable as a school teacher with a Master's
>Degree in hand because any school system would have to pay me a higher
>starting salary than someone with only a bachelor's.  More bang for the
>buck as it were.   Let's for a minute assume that there was an AAM
>requirement for a certain percentage of employees at a given institution
>to be certified in order to be accredited as was put forth on this list.
>What would a museum on the low side of that threshold who desires
>accreditation do?  Given all the hand-wringing on this list on the topic
>I would say they would fire a couple of uncertified employees (or not
>replace ones that leave) and accomplish more of their work with
>contractors, consultants, and other non-employee help thereby raising
>their percentage while accomplishing the same amount of work and not
>having to pay for professional development which many small museums
>cannot afford.
>
>It is also apparent that many of the most regulated professions (whether
>by professional organizations or by guilds or unions) are arguably the
>least diverse in terms of minorities or philosophical outlook.  Under the
>disguise of keeping standards high people who are not part of the
>official network, people who have not graduated from the right school, or
>people who do not know or agree with prevailing belief can be kept out.
>The most egregious example of this is the Hollywood guild system which
>can keep talented professionals out of high paying jobs for decades
>because they have not worked the right number of hours for the right
>companies or they cannot convince current members to nominate them.
>Subsequently, for all of their liberal, progressive image, there are few
>industries harder for minorities and women to break into than the motion
>picture industry.  And then there is the perennial accusation that law
>schools and medical schools are keeping the supply of doctors and lawyers
>artificially low to keep salaries and their power within the profession
>and industry high.
>
>Can't happen here you say?  Of course it can.
>
>It may sound like a good idea to all of the people on this list, but we
>are a fairly homogeneous group of people. All interests are not
>represented.  A certification program might (I repeat, might) raise some
>salaries, but the result would be more reliance on non-employee labor,
>more bureaucratic paper work for institutions and individuals, more
>financial burdens on small museums and any museum who wishes
>accreditation by the AAM (an already prohibitively expensive procedure
>for many institutions) and the closing off of any avenue into the
>profession other than the one's approved of by the certification
>committee.  I love this profession precisely because it is full of people
>from so many different backgrounds with so many different experiences who
>are judged by the quality of their work not which course they took or
>what school they went to.  A perfect system?  Of course not.  But will
>putting letters after your name make you a better exhibit designer, a
>better educator, a better grant writer or marketer? No.  Will it make you
>more ethical or adhere to professional standards? Of course not (Has it
>worked that way for doctor's, lawyer's, or accountants?).  All it will
>mean is that you have jumped through the approved set of hoops, and as
>valuable as those hoops may be, having a staff full of hoop jumpers will
>not make any museum better at what they do.
>
>Matthew White
>Director of Education
>B&O Railroad Museum
>[log in to unmask]