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Toli et al
I agree with you and thanks for posting this. I still have and
use most of the text books daily that I used as a graduate student and know
where to find the ones I used as an undergraduate.
As a manager, I encouraged technical staff to get degrees and
staff with B Sc and B Eng degrees to continue on to M Sc or Ph D degrees.
Many have thanked me for it because it gave them more opportunities,
including becoming a CHP.
BTW, if I was starting my HP career now rather when I
did, I would study and hopefully become a CHP.
Regards
_______________________
John R Johnson, PhD
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 7:11
PM
Subject: CHP -swear by it or swear at
it?
Radsafers,
What a
debate!
As far as the education requirement for becoming a CHP is
concerned, I'm all for it. While I respect the positions of those who
have argued against it, I disagree with them. A college education is
more than just getting "a piece of paper". Even the most basic health
physics concepts are based principles learned only in college. The
reason why all the HP's (CHP and non-CHP alike) in my department keep
their college textbooks in their offices is because we use them in our
day to day duties. I can't imagine trying to do dose reconstruction,
shielding design, data analysis without a college education. Another
reason for the college degree requirement is that a lot of regulations
and regulatory agencies (e.g. NY Dept. of Labor Industrial Code Rule 38)
require it to do some types of health physics work.
Although I believe in the degree requirement, I also believe
experience is equally as important. Education alone just doesn't cut it.
As Calvin Coolidge said, "the world is full of educated derelicts". In
my former days as an HP tech, I lost count of the number of times I had
to explain to some researcher with a Ph.D. how a survey meter works.
These people weren't dumb, they just didn't have the experience to know
better. I think that some amount of technician level experience should
count towards certification (maybe up to a maximum of 1-2
yrs.).
As for the job market, I know there are professional
opportunities for non-CHP's (I'm a non-CHP with a professional job), I
just think that they seem too few.
That's my two cents
worth.
Toli Mikell
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