AAM, accreditation, etc. (long rebuttal)

I have to agree with Matthew White on the accreditation of museum professionals issues. One of the things that makes museums responsive to their public is the fact that their employees come from diverse backgrounds. It is this unique blend of experise in surprising combinations that make some of the best museums. While I came from a museum studies program, some of the best people I have worked with have not - and there are still many people in the profession who started before the days of wide-spread museum studies programs.

Apprenticeships, prior life experiences, etc. often make great museum professionals.

On the other hand, I think that increased numbers of programs for people in the profession on the latest techniques/technologies/ideologies is important. I think that musuems themselves should be held to professional standards and also think that the museum disciplines should set professional guidelines for its practioners - e.g. The booklet published by EdCOM on Professional Standards for Museum Education (note education, not educators, taking into account that all staff members should be addressing the issue of education in one way or another).

Kathrine Walker Schlageck Education and Public Programs Beach Museum of Art Kansas State University

This conversation has been very interesting, and I think the group is touching on some very important issues. As someone who worked for five years as a 'temporary employee' at the Smithsonian, I know first hand the challenges we are facing as professionals. However, I have to agree that formal accreditation may be the wrong response to a complicated problem.

Those who are interested may want to revisit Stephen Weil's _Rethinking the Museum_ for an interesting discussion on the subject. In short, if I am remembering correctly, Weil argues that the movement for accreditation sets us as professionals on a path towards the minutae of our field and moves us away from the more complex issues of public education.

Let's continue the dialog.

Oh.... I wanted to point out that the Washington Post article about the 'museum boom' seemed to imply that the 'boom' is taking place for art and science museums mostly. Is there such a boom for history sites or are we moving toward this uncomfortable hybrid: the memorial/educational center? If so, the 'temple' is still alive.

Denise Meringolo Benjamin Banneker Fellow in Public History The George Washington University

Can all these things be built into a formal certification preparation program? Can they be verified through testing or practicum?

Regarding Matthew White's remarks: '...if a museum professional is less than adequate at their [sic] job no one will die, no innocent people will go to jail, no building's [sic] will fall, and no one's children will be doomed to illiteracy.' This is true (normally), but incompetent museum workers or administrators can damage or destroy, steal or allow others to steal, significant artifacts of inestimable historical, scientific, or aesthetic value, diminishing forever our shared historical heritage and in effect destroying knowledge. Or they can hide such objects and prevent both scholars and the general public from having access to them. In the frenzy to present themselves as 'educators,' some museum professionals forget their fundamental status as stewards or guardians of knowledge

Laura hits on on of the many schisms within the Museum community that will make any certification program for the whole profession difficult at best. I said in my last note that I think the idea has merit, and I do, but it seems to me the smaller organizations AASLH, ARM, MAAM or whatever acronym suits your nook and/or cranny of the profession would the more appropriate place for such an initiative. AAM already has an accreditation program that looks at an institution as a whole, which I think serves the commuity far better than putting individuals through a series of tests.

And few of those classes are actually worth while. Ask any teacher how many of these classes were worth the time and money spent. While I cannot speak for all of them, the many I talk to get tired of listening to one expert after another drone on and on trying to convince teachers that the latest education fad is going to save the country from drugs and illiteracy. Pointing to this very phenomenon a local teacher, in an editorial he wrote for the Baltimore Sun to mark his retirement after thirty years, wrote 'I learned long ago to be suspicious of any expert who begins a speech 'The research has shown...' ' Given the low level of teacher morale in this coutry, the sad state of public school education in general, teh vice-like control some teacher's organizations can have, and the political football that teacher accreditation can become around election time convinces me that this is not exactly a system I would like to emulate.

An, interestingly, the best education you can get in this part of the country is ussually at Catholic, Quaker, or other parochial schools where the teachers average a lower salary. The reason most stay, judging from the multitude of studies and reports in local media is class size, parental involvement, the lack of burdensome paperwork, quality of student , lack of superfluous accreditation requirements, and other 'quality of work' issues.

Matthew White Director of Education B&O Railroad Museum

Where can I find a copy of Stephen's Weil's 'Rethinking the Museum'

Catherine Fitts

You should be able to locate a copy of this book fairly easily, and you can probably order a copy through the Smithsonian Institution Press.

Stephen Weil. _Rethinking the Museum_. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

The National Building Museum will soon be traveling an exhibition on the S.H. Kress & Co. chain of five-and-dime stores.

I was wondering if any organizations or private individuals out there have any Kress items (ranging anywhere from paper bags and catalogues to signs and light fixtures) they would be willing to lend or donate for the exhibition. I would also be interested in any information anyone has on the current use of old Kress stores.

Please respond off-list, thanks!