I was wondering if the time has come to bring back the “Novice” license class.
Wax and wain all you like about the Novice license, but it isn't going to come back. The number of current Novice license holders continues to decrease. It doesn't cost anything for the FCC to keep them on the books. They will just fade away on their own, without the FCC doing anything.
Getting a Novice wasn't all roses for everyone. I obtained my Novice license in 1965, when I was 16. At the time, the Novice license was good for only one year and was non-renewable. It was either upgrade or hit the road. There was no time to just enjoy operating. There was a time limit on your license.
Some were able to upgrade to General, but with school and work, it wasn't that easy for everyone. I didn't have a mentor. I had to have a job. Mostly because, I took a liking to eating and my car didn't run on air. I upgraded to Technician, but with the Technician license you lost privileges. No HF privileges at all.
Some will say that the Technician license, at that time, was not meant as an upgrade. It was meant as an experimental license. Then why was it in the line of upgrading? You couldn't get to General, Advanced, or Extra, without taking the Technician written test. If you took the Technician and General written tests, but failed the General, you were bounced back to being a Technician, without any HF privileges. That was a real nice way to bring new hams in to the fold. It's a good thing they came to their senses a few years later.
But I stuck with it. I worked with the Technician license as best I could, operating on 2 meters AM. FM and repeaters were not around then. At least not in my area. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I learned a lot during my time as a Technician. I finally let that Technician license expire. A few years later, when the Novice and Technician license were changed, I got my license back.
In the end, the current Technician license has all the privileges the old Novice license had, and they may be getting more. The current Technician license is, what the old Novice license was, and more. And that includes the CW privileges, but without the CW requirements. Whey recreate a redundant license?