Re: The Health Physics Profession

[Jeff Eichorst <myself@lanl.gov>]

David,
Absolutely!  Truman should have been denied just as Bill Gates should be
denied if the computer industry has/would have a certification requirement.
I think the business world, in general, should have a certification process.
That way all of the high school and college drop outs that have become more
successful than any of us would be held back.

For those unsure, that is sarcasm!

At 05:34 PM 9/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>	Now for my 2 cents worth added to this thread.  It is my understanding
>that "board certification" in just about any field that you choose to name
>is basically a "post-World War II" phenomenon.  In general, the thought
>underlying these post-WW II certifications was that a formal degree should
>not be an immutable requirement.  The reasoning basically was that whether
>you learned it in a college formal degree program or learned it through
>other means (years of on-the-job experience), it should make no difference.
> Either way, if you could pass the certification exam, degree or no degree,
>you thereby earned the privelege of calling yourself a "professional
>engineer" or whatever.  The members of the early certification boards
>appear to have recognized that you can learn the basics of the specialized
>knowledge you need to know through methods other than just getting a
>college degree.  It has only been in later (recent) times that
>certification boards have become more "elitist" in the sense of requiring
>formal degrees.  Although presumably a rarity, imagine the case of a child
>prodigy whose parents educated him/her in the home.  Such a child might not
>even end up going to college.  But at some point, if he/she decided to
>become say, a health physicist, should the lack of a college sheepskin
>prevent him from taking the certification exam and trying to become a CHP,
>or a PE, or whatever.  If you can learn the specialized knowledge that you
>need to know, by whatever means, and show the requisite amount of validated
>job experience, I have difficulty perceiving that a formal college degree
>is necessarily "necessary."
>
>	Perhaps other Radsafers can add more detail, but as I recall, Harry Truman
>came from a rather poor family, little money on which to go to college.  He
>took classes part-time and was just a couple of classes short of getting
>his law degree when his father died and he had to return to Missouri to
>help the family, etc.  Would it have been appropriate then, as apparently
>is the case nowadays, for the American Bar Association to deny Harry the
>opportunity to take the bar exam just because he did not have a formal law
>degree?
>
>Best regards  David
>
>
>At 03:55 PM 11-09-97 -0500, you wrote:
>>I just want to add my 2 cents...
>>
>>There is huge difference of understanding between a person with a degree
>in health
>>physics and person not having a degree.  I believe you cannot consider
>yourself a
>>professional in health physics without a college degree and several years
>work
>>experience AFTER you earned your degree.
>>
>>I worked for a few years as a "Rent-A-Tech" during refueling outages before
>>earning my degree in health physics.  My level of understanding as tech
>was just
>>enough so that I can swing a meter, write a decent survey report, and provide
>>radiological coverage based upon recommendations by the plant health
>physicist.
>>
>>I have heard people say that training in the nuclear navy as enlisted
>personnel is
>>comparable to that of a nuclear engineering/health physics degree.  This
>is not
>>true.  My program at Oregon State was made mostly of nuclear navy enlisted
>people
>>that were given a 3 year opportunity to earn a degree.  It was no surprise
>that
>>the first 2 years were a struggle for the non-navy students competing for
>a good
>>grade against the navy trained students, but by the third year, it was an
>even
>>playing ground.
>>
>>My point is, you gain the theory through formal education that is
>necessary to be
>>a professional health physicist.  Without a theory background and post
>academic
>>work experience, you cannot make solid recommendations or decisions.  This is
>>necessary to be a professional in health physics.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>David W. Lee
>Los Alamos National Laboratory
>Radiation Protection Services Group (ESH-12)
>PO Box 1663, MS K483
>Los Alamos, NM  87545
>PH:   (505) 667-8085
>FAX:  (505) 667-9726
>lee_david_w@lanl.gov
>
>
Jeff Eichorst
Occurrence Investigator
Los Alamos National Laboratory
ESH-7, MS K999, Los Alamos, NM 87545
505.665-6980		505.665-6977 fax
505.996-1117 digital pager,	myself@lanl.gov

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."
	- JFK