Re[2]: ABHP Degree Requirement - Background and Perspective

[L_K_II_Les_Aldrich@RL.gov]

     Its nice, every once in a while, to see a totally emotional message.  
     It reminds me to remember to write my emotional response, read it, 
     delete it, and then respond to the issue.
     
     At first, I thought perhaps Mr. Fenner was reflecting the modern 
     educational policy of "It doesn't matter if you know anything when you 
     graduate, as long as you feel good about yourself."  But he has been 
     in the field for 17 years, so that can't be right.
     
     Since there was no factual or rational information in the message, 
     what is it that we are supposed to do about certification?
     
     How about this:  A sixth grade education, followed by a high school 
     GED qualifies you to take the examination.  The examination will 
     consist of writing "Health Physicist" on the blackboard 10 times 
     without misspelling more than 40% of the words.  If that's still too 
     elitist, we could drop the GED and spelling requirements!
     
     Personally, I flunked the Part I exam twice, and the only one I got 
     mad at was myself for not studying hard enough.
     
     Don't blame anyone else for the message above, I did it by myself.
     
     Les Aldrich
     
     e-mail: l_k_ii_les_aldrich@rl.gov


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: ABHP Degree Requirement - Background and Perspective
Author:  Roger Fenner <rfenner@voyageronline.net> at -MailLink
Date:    9/15/97 11:28 PM


I have just read with disgust George Vargo's comments concerning the
background for the degree requirement.  Sure as hell makes me wish I had
chosen a different profession 17 years ago.  Or excuse me "trade."  I
wonder how Mr. Vargo's ignorant grandfather made it to retirement. 
Seems he should have been replaced by a degreed "professional" many
years before he retired.  Why didn't they do that Mr. Vargo?  Could it
be because he learned through experience rather than classroom education
how a power plant should be run and was able to do a "professional" job
doing it?

Everyone who is Certified without a degree must surely be asked to turn
their certification in to the Elitists.  Times have changed and more is
expected from society than you degreeless people have to offer.  You
surely don't want to lower the "status of the profession" by your
membership.

We should all strive to be like IH's. Give them a certification, teach
them how to spell a few words (like radiation safety) and they are an
instant expert.  Just look at the trends taking place on college
campuses in the "Environmental" safety offices around the country.

One final thought.  Mr. Vargo, next time you go looking for a snob in
your midsts, just look in a mirror.
Received: from mail.rl.gov by ccmail.rl.gov with SMTP
  (IMA Internet Exchange 1.04b) id 41e0b670; Mon, 15 Sep 97 21:30:31 -0700
Received: from postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu (postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.11]) b
y touchet.rl.gov (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id VAA18670; Mon, 15 Sep 1997 21:29:44 
-0700 (PDT)
Received: from romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu [128.174.74.24])
	by postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id XAA32320;
	Mon, 15 Sep 1997 23:28:25 -0500
Received: from localhost by romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (NX5.67d/NeXT-2.0)
	id AA28707; Mon, 15 Sep 97 23:28:23 -0500
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 97 23:28:23 -0500
Message-Id: <341E0715.5E0B@voyageronline.net>
Errors-To: melissa@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
Originator: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
Sender: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
Precedence: bulk
From: Roger Fenner <rfenner@voyageronline.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: ABHP Degree Requirement - Background and Perspective
X-Listserver-Version: 6.0 -- UNIX ListServer by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment:  Radiation Safety Distribution List