Just my opinion and not those of any organization for which I might
volunteer.

I'm a day late on this one, but I believe some perspective is required here.
Up until the late 1960s a high school degree truly meant something. One of
the larger insurance companies here in Indianapolis was sold recently. It's
president was a woman with a high school degree who had begun as a secretary
in the company. She had taken the company from sleepy to successful. For
those of us graduating later, a high school degree was insufficient to show
we could think critically and demonstrate basic literacy (more than just
reading, this includes other types of literacy including: geographical,
historical, and social sciences) and mathematical skills. While critical
thinking skills and basic literacy are now being pushed down to the
elementary school level, the only place that focuses on them, albeit not
always well, is at the bacheloreate level. A degree in this sense is as much
a remnant of the age of the person.

As our jobs are being redefined and refreshed, our education levels are also
being rethought by our employers. It is possible to be quite talented in
business without having a degree in it, but an MBA is basically a
"certification" that a person has a certain minimum level of education. A
Ph.D. is a "certification" not of content knowledge, but of the ability to
perform research--as our professors never tired of telling us. In this way
the CRM is quite like a degree in records management, because it attests to
a certain minimum level of knowledge and skills. 

What education is required for a job as a records manager? The answer is, it
depends. You may need more leadership skills, more patience, more
technological knowledge, etc. Depending upon your particular job duties and
job opportunities within your organization. I don't believe there is a
one-size fits all education for us other than what the ARMA competencies
will describe for us. We all have some concepts in common, like the life
cycle of records, but the similarity ends there. 

It is precisely the differences among us that makes us a vibrant community
and that make our network so rich. Everywhere you look there are vibrant
ideas backed up by years of experience--and the education each of us needed
to get where we are today. Where shall we go tomorrow? 

Vive la difference!
Carol

Carol E.B. Choksy, Ph.D., CRM
CEO
IRAD Strategic Consulting, Inc.
(317) 294-8329
 
Adjunct Professor
School of Library and Information Science
Indiana University, Bloomington
 

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