No generalizing about, but I do stand by my statement of "often" - meaning
more frequently than not.  As for degreed vs. non-degreed - I don't know
thay this is really an issue.  I think the key is the responsibility to
preserve and do a good job - also to share the results.  I'm not talking
about precise GPS co-ordinates to the site, I'm talking about
reconstructing the reasons and events of the sinking, the actual (as
opposed to written) cargo and all the other wonderful things of this
nature.  I am concerned that toomany times the bottom line must come before
the recovery, preservation, and interpretation of data.  To really tick off
some people, I have the same concerns (though to a much lesser extent) with
CRM and, in general, all consulting for a living.  Ethics and
responsibilities must be (and usually are) high.  Thus, the degree is not
the question but the proper and acceptable procedures are.
 
Of course, we can typically argue that degrees are designed to teach us
these things and I would dare to suggest that there is a higher percentage
of degreed individuals who fully comprehend these issues than there is a
percentage of non-degreed people who do.  This isn't a function of elitism
but of training - non-degreed individuals learn by doing, and time is
telling here. Many things are repeated and chance sometimes does no afford
the opportunity to experience some things.  Degreed individuals should be
(ideally be) placed in situations where they do the things that are useful
and informative.  The education process should help guide students through
a selected sequence of experiences that impart the desired knowledge.
Ultimately, I think this is what the degree system is supposed to be about,
a statement that the individual graduted has experienced a set sort of
experiences and cultivated a set of tools that are defined as desirable
within the discipline.  (Variation in such definitions and training
introduce the problems.)  Notem that I have not said that non-professionala
rchaeologists or non-degreed archaeologists cannot do good, even great,
work.  It is in the percentages and the preparation that things vary.
 
having really put my foot into it I must retire for a time.
 
cheers (and I'm really not all that cranky :)   )
 
john
 
 
John P. Staeck          Heart, Faith, and Skill,
Anthropology Program      With these we shall
Luther College            meet the world and vanquish
Decorah, IA  52101        those who would unjustly
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