In article , "Carl R. Stevenson"
writes:

There is an ITU-R Recommendation that deals with the sorts of
THEORETICAL knowledge that hams should possess ... IIRC,
it's ITU-R Recommendation M.1544 ...

Carl, I think that is "irrelevant" in this newsgroup. If it hasn't
been officially published by the ARRL, it can't apply at all to
amateur radio! :-)

That recommendation is consistent with the basis and purpose
of the ARS, both as defined by the FCC and the ITU.

While not strictly mandatory, it is provided as "good advice to
administrations" on what sorts of theoretical knowledge hams
should possess.

Well, there are SEVEN petitions for rulemaking posted by the
FCC for retention of code testing...in addition to the seven posted
for the elimination of code testing.

Those for code test retention are RM-10805 through RM-10811
inclusive. The most glaring of the "stuck-in-the-past emotional
attachment to old ways" is Napurano's RM-10806. A classic,
almost, in the gratuitous glorification of morse beyond reasonable
bounds of the state of the art of radio of 30 years ago. It exceeds
morse glorification of FISTS' RM-10811 document. :-)

Roux' petition of RM-10810 is split on code test necessity, only
extras having code tests.

I've already filed Comments on all 14. The others in here seem
content with just jawing and hollering among themselves... :-)

LHA