In one way the Institutes and Societies do a disservice to the schools. That is in the continuance of the ``grandfather clauses'' in their membership requirements.

When these groups were first formed many prominent and accomplished decorators could not have had the advantage of school training since interior design courses were rare and undeveloped during their youth. Long hard years of ``on the job'' training had brought them to their competence.

The necessity of that day has long disappeared. There is plenty of opportunity for proper education today. It is discouraging for students to realize that the societies do not truly uphold the standards for which they are supposed to stand.

The reason and the day of ``grandfather clauses'' has long since passed. No one can deny that these ``back door'' admissions to membership provisions have been seriously abused nor that they have not resulted in the admission of downright incompetents to membership in supposedly learned societies.

Beyond any question of curriculum and approach to subject must be the quality of the teachers themselves. It will occur to anyone that the teacher must have adequate education, a depth and breadth of knowledge far beyond the immediate necessities of his course plus complete dedication to his subject and to his students. The local decorator who rushes in for a few hours of teaching may but more likely may not have these qualifications.