Nickle Generals and Extras:

If the 13 and 20 wpm CW exams came back and you had to pass the proper
code exam for your class to renew, 13 wpm for general, 20 wpm for extra,
would you renew your license?

I always liked the idea of the 13/20 wpm requirements because it did push us
to greater heights of achievment.

Some want to be Doctors and some want to be rice pickers. That should not
be taken away from us. In one country I recall, it was mandated that ALL
would be rice pickers at the barrel of an AK47 by sadistic nut jobs with a
grudge against achievers. Of course the result was 2 classes: The bullies
and the rice pickers. Perhaps the bullies had little regard for anything
but rice and violence.

Mastering the code and advancing in speed requires determination and control
of ones emotional state to allow the information to flow. This is very
difficult for beligerant people to do, so they complain, bitch and cajole
rather than just doing what needed to be done. As for the technical
requirements. Not enough. Even beligerant people can learn to field strip
a rifle.