In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

In the past (the Pre-Restructuring Era), the reason for upgrading was that
increased operating privileges were the reward for gaining increased
technical knowledge and operating skill. The ARS seems to have taken
a clue from the rest of our dumbed-down society and abandoned this
philosophy.

And what I'm thinking is that unless it means something again, they
might as well get rid of it. That little sliver of operating frequencies
is not worth it, if increased privileges are the measuring stick.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Mike:

True, if you're talking about the difference between Advanced and Extra
under the Pre-Restructuring system. In that system, the motivation to
upgrade to Extra was to gain the International DX "windows" on phone
and CW, plus the benefit of the 1x2 and 2x1 callsigns, and the "status" that
went with being an Amateur Extra. I considered that to be well worth
the effort required to pass Elements 1(c) and 2(e). However, "status"
among hams is now Politically Incorrect, so we must now endure the
"socialized" licensing system we now have in the ARS. Personally, I
didn't have too many problems with the No-code Tech concept, except
for the fact that even though it literally gave away 97% of all amateur
operating privileges, it only led to greater expectations of even more
dumbing-down.

73 de Larry, K3LT