I am a dinosaur

A curmudgeon, a crab, sourpuss, stick-in-mud, killjoy ........whatever you want to call me. I freely and openly admit it.

So what's W2LJ going on about now?

Knowing that I am a VE Liaison, someone (who shall remain nameless) approached me and asked to see the copies of the new Element 3 General exams that took effect on July 1st that were sent to me by the ARRL. I immediately and outrightly refused.

After I calmed down (my temper flared), I asked this person (an Extra) why exactly did they want to see them? The answer was (paraphrased) "I want to teach a General licensing class" - Ham Cram style.

So I directed this person to the NCVEC website, where the new question pool has been available since April. But that wasn't good enough - again paraphrasing,  "I want to know which questions are actually on the tests."

Again came the answer - unequivocally and forever "NO!" And then I got the "Why not?" attitude. Maybe because this my license and my VE credentials, my honesty, my reputation and my integrity on the line?

And this is where the curmudgeonliness comes in. I am probably going to raise a lot of hackles with this, but I loathe Ham Crams just for the sake of Ham Crams. They definitely have their place and purpose and ARE very worthwhile when used properly. In my book, you teach a licensing course - properly and traditionally- and then you can use a Ham Cram as a sort of final review before exam time. This way, you teach the theory and the Ham Cram will make the candidate comfortable with what they might find on the exam, as well as jog their memories on any finer points they may need reinforcement on.

This has been my personal experience where I have been involved in running VE Sessions for both scenarios. In the VE sessions where beforehand the material was taught traditionally (ie. hold classes and/or home study where the students read the license manual, the instructor reviews that material with them, answers questions for them, explains and tries to simplify the theory that wasn't clear to them) and the Ham Cram was used only as a final review, the passing rate was 85% or higher. In the sessions where the only exposure to the material was the Ham Cram itself on the day of testing, the passing rate was closer to 10-15%. I asked one of the participants at one of the latter types of sessions if they looked at the material at all before coming to take part of the Cram and I was answered "I looked at it on my way over here." I held my tongue, but probably rolled my eyes.

The point being, are you teaching theory or are you just teaching people how to take a test? Allowing students to memorize answers without understanding a scintilla of the background behind them is a fool's paradise. I hate to sound snobby, demeaning or condescending, but I've run across way too many Amateur Extras who have no idea how to build a simple dipole for themselves. Even worse, it seems they don't even have the wherewithal to go and look up the information for themselves! 

My $00.02 is that the hugest tragedy that ever occurred was when the FCC eliminated the Novice license. For years this was a training ground that led to the higher class licenses. We had our own little "playground" of spectrum, we made our abundant mistakes, we learned from them, we made friends, and if our interest was high enough - we upgraded and moved on.

Cranking out licensees for the sake of cranking out licensees - what's the value in that? Like so many other things in life, if there's just a mild curiosity about the Amateur Radio experience with no real passion behind it, you're just inflating numbers for the sake of looking good. And in the end, that does no one any good, except maybe for the lobbyists and the equipment manufacturers.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!