I think the MSU program fills a void in our profession. TV people have a responsibility to inform viewers. It is very dangerous to be ignorant about a subject as important as weather. People lives and livelihoods are at stake and people depend on us, not the NWS for their information usually. It is just as dangerous to have a degreed met with no communication skills as it is a person with no met skills. That is why the seal programs were developed. Isn't it better to have someone with some education than none at all? I would rather have a MSU person than someone with no clue.
I think the problem with MSU can be solved by going back to a situation in the NWS many years back. The NWS was a blend of meteorologists and these other guys called "met-techs." The difference between the two were that meteorologists went and got their 4 year degrees and learned all the theory behind the science and "met-techs" learned the basics without all the theory. That is very similar to what MSU does. The problem is that I do not think that the MSU person should have the same title that I have. Does that mean that I am a better forecaster and communicator than every MSU graduate? No way! There are many out there that can out forecast me and probably tell a better weather story. The problem is that the education they are receiving is different in theory. Most are not wanting to be real meteorologists and they are not educated to be real meteorologists. If they wanted to be real meteorologists they would have gone to a school that offers a four year program. They want to be educated TV weather people and call themselves meteorologists as if what they did was the same as what I did. I do think that the quality of the MSU graduates is not as consistently high as graduates of normal 4 year schools. I have heard too many stories of fraud in the MSU program. I have been following the progress of one of our weathercasters in the program and it is too easy to skim through. I am sure it is a lot easier to get through MSU barely than it is a typical four year degree. You can skim through almost any program but the MSU program seems almost designed to help people do just that. We have a situation where our weathercaster did not even graduate from college and in two years he will be calling himself a meteorologist! That is not fair to those who went through the blood, sweat, and tears of atmospheric thermodynamics, engineering math, and dynamics. I find it difficult to believe that you can get the same education in a tape as you can by being there yourself. Even our weathercaster who is in the program admits this. Perhaps we need to have a different title for an MSU grad than typical meteorologists just like the "met-techs" had their own title even though they did many of the same jobs as the regular meteorologists. After all, they are getting certificates in meteorology, not B.S.'s in meteorology. What is the big deal in admitting that a certificate is not the same as a B.S.? At least the people with certificates have some education. How do you think medical doctors would feel if you could become an M.D. through the mail? What if they called nurses doctors? After all, they do almost all the same things anymore. We have to give credit where it is due to the MSU program because it fills a void but we can not accept it as equal. Meteorologists on TV are meteorologists who just happen to be on TV. Being a meteorologist does not mean we will be good on TV. That is why we have such programs such as the NWA and AMS to help try and uphold standards for the profession. They require a minimal amount of education and on-air credibility to be worthy of a seal. The seal means you may be a good communicator, but it does not mean you are a meteorologist. Am I a historian, mathematician, physicist, and geographer because I took a few classes in those subjects? I would say no. There is no difference between that and an MSU person calling himself a meteorologist. Remember, we have to preserve the integrity of what we do. I have proposed legislation to my local representative that would create standards to call oneself a meteorologist in our state. Whether this legislation goes through or not, it may be the only route we can go. Just like many other professions you have to have a certain amount of education to practice a profession in a state with that title. This would not prevent MSU grads from working, but it would stop them from calling themselves meteorologists. I will keep The Weathercaster posted as to how this legislation works out. It is an uphill battle but you never know. I would like to add that this letter in no way was meant to discredit the regular MSU B.S. program. This is only about the MSU broadcast program and similar meteorologist-by-mail programs.