16th September 2012, 11:10 PM
So I think I will be one of the few to go against the idea of a chartered organization because it lacks a wife's touch. (yes, that makes very little sense but I will explain)
So the IfA gets chartered status and 1 of 3 things will happen, none of which are good
1. absolutely nothing changes other than the IfA has chartered status- crap result, lots members money is spent, more paper work, etc. for nothing.
2. the IfA somehow takes control of who can call themselves an archaeologists NOT WHO CAN PRACTICE BUT WHO CAN CALL themselves an archaeologists. This just makes people angry that and just leads to the argument about how heritage workers know more cross sectioning a post whole than an archaeologists.
3. The IfA gets to determine who can practice archaeology. Worst case scenario! Yes, there are bad archaeologists and poor work conditions but forcing people to jump through hoops will not weed out the bad archaeologists or improve work condition, just force the really good ones to leave and guarantee conditions stay the same, just profit margins go up.
The reason the charter status fails is because the concept is based on forcing people to do something. It is all stick and no carrot. If the IfA wants to weed out bad archaeologists (however you define this) or improve working conditions then it should act like a wife/girlfriend/boyfriend(no discrimination here) . That is to convince archaeologists to be good archaeologists (again however one defines that) because they think they want to be good archaeologists not because they are afraid of being kicked out. The IfA should let us think we made the decision to be good even though we all know who really had the idea e.g. the wife effect.
Right now the IfA works as a stick, not a very big one or intimidating one, when it should try to be a carrot. Chartered status is just another way to try and make that stick bigger.
In my personal opinion, joining an organization should benefit a person so much that they would be stupid not to join. But not because those benefits are artificial barriers imposed by the organization, real benefits that help people.
just my two cents
So the IfA gets chartered status and 1 of 3 things will happen, none of which are good
1. absolutely nothing changes other than the IfA has chartered status- crap result, lots members money is spent, more paper work, etc. for nothing.
2. the IfA somehow takes control of who can call themselves an archaeologists NOT WHO CAN PRACTICE BUT WHO CAN CALL themselves an archaeologists. This just makes people angry that and just leads to the argument about how heritage workers know more cross sectioning a post whole than an archaeologists.
3. The IfA gets to determine who can practice archaeology. Worst case scenario! Yes, there are bad archaeologists and poor work conditions but forcing people to jump through hoops will not weed out the bad archaeologists or improve work condition, just force the really good ones to leave and guarantee conditions stay the same, just profit margins go up.
The reason the charter status fails is because the concept is based on forcing people to do something. It is all stick and no carrot. If the IfA wants to weed out bad archaeologists (however you define this) or improve working conditions then it should act like a wife/girlfriend/boyfriend(no discrimination here) . That is to convince archaeologists to be good archaeologists (again however one defines that) because they think they want to be good archaeologists not because they are afraid of being kicked out. The IfA should let us think we made the decision to be good even though we all know who really had the idea e.g. the wife effect.
Right now the IfA works as a stick, not a very big one or intimidating one, when it should try to be a carrot. Chartered status is just another way to try and make that stick bigger.
In my personal opinion, joining an organization should benefit a person so much that they would be stupid not to join. But not because those benefits are artificial barriers imposed by the organization, real benefits that help people.
just my two cents