In article k.net, "Dwight
Stewart" writes:

"Bert Craig" wrote:

(snip) I kinda liken it to kids that are graduating
HS with a 5th, 6th, or 7th grade reading level.
Gee, how'd they get through? Check out the
recent regents debacle. Not enough kids pass,
it must be to hard...so we'll throw 'em a curve.
See the cycle there. Had someone had the
courage to NOT throw some of these kids their
earlier curves in the first place, their Regents
scores would be higher.

What does this have to do with amateur radio?
Human nature. What we learn to do as we
practice our avocation early in life, we tend to
apply to other aspects later in life. (snip)

It is not Amateur Radio's job or mandate to correct society's ills, Bert.
Indeed, the current members of this avocation are not different enough from
society overall to even have the moral high ground to attempt to do so.
We're not gods or priests - we're simply radio operators. By the way, the
word "too," as in "too hard," has more than one "o."

Dwight, you cannot argue with Believers.

Their self-righteousness knows no bounds.

They are correct by their own definitions.

They KNOW what is best for amateur radio...and that is a maintenance
of morse code proficiency forever and ever.

A morse code test for amateur radio licensing has "always" been in
the regulations (91 years) and it must always be there.

Why must we reduce our beloved hobby/service
to the lowest commen denominator?

There is nothing in code testing that insures the highest common
denominator, or anything more than a lowest common denominator.
Incidentally, one would reasonably expect no spelling mistakes in a message
written by a person bold enough to point out the limited educational skills
of others. The word "common" is spelled with an "o," not an "e."

Messaging sometimes goes down to the "lowest common
denominator" in writing... :-)

LHA