What are your thoughts on the 1A3/1A4 merger?

I was previously a 1A5 and then then 1A3 merger came along a few years ago. At least we were all techs in the correct sense of the word. Now 1A4's have merged with 1A3's. I don't see the logic. AST's are console operators with zero technical training. Maybe it's not as big of a stretch now since the current crop of ARTs and CDMTs get only a fraction of the technical training we used to. I recently posed a question to newly patched techs- what is a relay? and I received puzzled looks. Our systems are more reliable than they used to be so perhaps the value of making a pinger detector is diminished. Curious to hear other's thoughts on it.