Dee D. Flint wrote:





NONE of the tests were EVER intended to be "lid filters". They were a means
to require a certain basic knowledge to allow people into radio. Further
testing was intended to motivate people to expand their knowledge by
awarding privileges to those who did undertake the self-learning and
development.

This is why it is not necessary to have a direct tie between material tested
and privileges awarded. Instead you tie the most desirable privileges not
to the type of material but to information and skills that they should have
but don't want to learn. This is the way society, in general, works.

Who determines "skills they should have"? And why? And who says that
the FCC is to be
the enforcer? Things like "instrument ratings" for plane pilots from
the FAA make sense; that
you should prove that you know (via a test) that you know how to fly a
plane and land it
safely when it's foggy. Else you'll likely crash it and kill yourself
and all aboard. But requiring
extra knowledge of radio to be allowed to operate SSB on 14.160 vs
14.322 is kinda silly.
It's almost like forcing kids in high school to learn Spanish or French.
I had to take
Spanish in high school, and as I don't own a landscaping business or
such, it was a total
waste of time. Japanese or Chinese would have been a more useful
choice, but the
high school didn't offer those. Or better yet some form of technical
writing English class.
But writing was a real PITA back when I was in high school, no word
procesors or
computers then. or printers. How did people manage to bang out
typewritten papers
without errors?