On Thu, 9 Jan 1997, Greg Shuman wrote:

> It is rather unfortunate that government bureaucracy does not allow
> for their positions to be filled with the best qualified.  But that's
> nothing new.

I think the real problem (with both government and non) is that many
times, particularly in a rapidly evolving field, people who entered the
profession before it was an academic field get cut out. These days a
position might require an MA and, say, three years experience. That's
fine for people in their 30s, but what about the old duffer who started
in a museum in the 1970s, and thus has 25 years experience, when there
were no (or very few) MA programs? Some empoloyers try to deal with this
problem by allowing experience over the minimum to be counted as years
toward a degree, but some (I assume the Feds and at least one of the
Dakotas) do not. Maybe they should.

Michaele and David Haynes      [log in to unmask]