To those that have disagreed and believe that taking and passing the test
makes you "qualified" and therefore the significant lowering of the
professional experience requirements represents no problem, I put this
forth. 

First, there are many people who are excellent test takers. Cram it and pass
it. It happens all the time. I know significant examples from my own life.
In schools they call it teaching to the test. As others have said, just
because you can pass a multiple choice test and write a convincing essay
doesn't mean you have the skills. 

Secondly, a generic "BA" does not generally teach the skills or deliver the
experience that is relative to the knowledge required in today's records
management environment. So while having a BA is useful to establish a base
requirement for the promotion of a professional credential in this day and
age, it is essentially irrelevant to the practice. Now, if it the degree in
question had relevance to the practice of records and information management
I could see where this might be practicable. In fact, I'd argue that a
graduate of a two year degree program in something like Health Information
Management knows more about records and information management than almost
all the BA four year liberal arts graduates out there. For comparison, to be
a lawyer, you must get through law school first prior to taking the Bar.
Three years of intense schooling directly related to the topic at hand.
Doctors, medical school and boards, and internships and residency to be a
real doctor. Accountants, must have an accounting degree to sit for the CPA.
The key point is that all three of these respected certifications require
substantial educational achievement in courses directly relating to their
practice prior to certification. Given the relative scarcity of formal
college and university based RIM education, this type of requirement would
not be practical for  the CRM. Which is what made the professional
experience portion of the CRM so vital. In my opinion the CRM was actually
better in some ways than these other professional accreditations, precisely
because it required substantial and varied professional experience, and not
just education.

Lowering entrance standards will equal more CRMs with less actual
experience, which will equal an overall devaluing of the certification. In
the exact same way that having a BA now means far far less than it did 30 to
40 years ago. 

As a CRM, I am also disappointed that the ICRM did not (to my knowledge) ask
for comments from CRM's prior to making this decision.

Gregg M Long JD, CRM
Information Manager and Contract Administrator
C.J. Enterprises Inc. 
423-899-1770 Ext.-312
423-316-5554 Cell
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