A good point is made about professional organizations -- but I would
like to ask how many professional organizations require -employment-
for membership, or allow only organizations/institutions to become
members?
 
Certainly this is not true of either the "local college of physicians
and surgeons" or the various engineering societies.  Indeed, I am
eligible to join the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE),
though I have no engineering degree -- and so are you.
 
--bayla singer, independent scholar    [log in to unmask]