[Leica] Formal education needed?

[Erwin Puts <imxputs@ision.nl>]

It is quite remarkable that the insistence of formal education has popped up
recently and even more remarkable seems to apply to one individual only.
If we stay in the realm of testing lenses, which according to that ad hoc
criterium can be done reliably only when having a university degree in
optics and/or a long working life in a company that designs lenses, we
should discard all lens testing in the photographic world:
None of the testers of Chasseurs d'Images has such a degree or working
experience, nor the Modern Photography testers (Herbert Keppler as example),
nor the Photo Techniques people (has Mike Johnston (I have forgotten more
about photography that you will ever know) a degree in these topics?), nor
has Popular Photography, Photodo, Shutterbug etc, Color Photo, Photo
Magazin, even the super famous Geoffrey Crawley, cited often in Viewfinder,
does not have these requirements.
And to stay on a personal level: have Tom Abrahamson, the staff of
Viewfinder, and all of the other respected Luggers who occassionally present
their test results these qualifications? Not to forget Mr Gandy himself!
What is his track record in these topics?
It is well known that most photographers do not have formal education in
their craft or art and still can produce outstanding work.
To drift a bit: the mechanical clock and  and the invention of the latitude
as a tool for navigation were invented by amateurs against the formally
educated university professors who argued against their knowledge.
Fraunhofer, of the famous glass works and Fraunhofer lines was an amateur
etc.
The topic of the necessity of a formal education as a prerequisite for being
taken serious or being able to perform at all, has a long cultural history.
The balance of history is in favour of the amateurs. But that as an aside.

It is quite strange that the individual(s) who demand formal expertise from
others, do not possess it themselves, and in the same sentence  refer to
others as reliable and trustworthy sources, who do not qualify either.

It is evidently the case that this demand for qualifications is not
introduced as a serious safeguard against quaks or charlatans, but as a very
blunt and conspicious instrument to fend off and discredit the work of one
specific individual only.

Luckely for me the reviews of my book in all magazines are quite positive,
if not raving. So are the readers. And I did state that I am not formally
trained in these topics. Some at least are less blinded and more open minded
than others. 
But you need to have some quality to recognize quality in some body else.
Read Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycling for a discussion of these
topics. 

Erwin