I find it interesting how various professions consistently come up with new terminology to formalize practices/techniques that are supposedly new .
Some professions have become well-oiled, self-preserving, machines. They create requirements for training/certification and people jump all over it—scrambling to acquire the letters—until the person with the certification becomes a commodity in the job market because there are so many out there with those letters following the comma following their name. Then the profession creates something new, requiring additional certification—and more letters—if the person wants to maintain their attractiveness in the job market.
Some might say this is ingenious and perhaps it is, but it still makes me shake my head. I subscribe to the letters GSD—Get Shit Done—because anyone can get those for free. —ABCDEFG…FFS
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2012.
Yes, but without those superfluous initials, retired schoolteachers and dilletante philosophers would have even less credibility.
Aw, are you sad you didn’t get that job you wanted because you’re too lazy to get your certification, OB?
Ummmmm lots of certifying bodies I know for different professions put their professionals through strict, standardized training to ensure they know what they’re doing. Some organizations only grant their certification after years of experience in the industry and some now require university degrees in order to receive the certification. It’s all about quality control.
True story, PK..
I’ve lost count of the training courses I’ve had to take, from WHMIS to training for new computer programs, first aid, updated laws and codes, or voluntary courses offered by suppliers/manufacturers. And ya know what? They were all worth it. You’ll always learn something applicable, or at least reinforce what you already know.
I’d rather have ‘Do Shit Right’, thanks.
http://wepeel.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/…
yeah they want another certification, and another…
and then they wanna pay you minimum wage!
story ah mah life, pal.
WHAT PROFESSIONS?
This is what is called an “air ball” in basketball. An air ball is shot up in the air towards the basket, it goes up and up and then comes down and down and – never touches the rim! It misses everything! In other words, this bitch is empty, vacuous, and completely lacking in any identifiable meaning, no doubt reflecting the mental capacities of the bitcher, i.e., none.
What “professions” are you talking about? What “practices” and “techniques”? What letters? For that matter, do you understand what a profession is? What are its distinguishing characteristics? Is something a “profession” simply because that is the way one happens to make a living? How is a trade, for example, to be distinguished from a profession? What relaionshp, if any, do skills have to a profession? If an occupation is self-regulating, does that make it a profession? Why is a doctor, a lawyer, or a professor said to be a member of a profession while, for example, a bartender, a waiter or a secretary is not? Is teaching a profession? Is an assistant teacher a “professional”? Why or why not?
Of course, we see the mind of the bitcher when he proudly proclaims that the only letters after his name are GSD – Get Shit Done. What shit? What does getting it done involve? Why are you proud of this? You buffoon.
By the way, I’ve just counted all the letters after my name. Do you know how many there are? There are twelve! Can you imagine? If I added GSD there would be fifteen! Do you think I should?
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Hey, I’ve watched “Mayday”, I know how to land a plane without being certified. Does the OB want to come flying with me. And I’ve watched Trauma: Life in the E.R., so next time you get shot in gang warfare, I can fix you up.
OB, do you had three hyphens to every sentence for dramatic effect or because you think it’s some how creative? Chances are I wouldn’t hire you either. Save the weak attempt at creativity or dramatic effect for your BBM chats.
OB, certification is the only way to check & see if a person has a grasp of the knowledge needed to do the job … especially, when failure to be able to carry out said duties &/or operate a piece of equipment can harm you or others. While I have heard people bitch about having to take recertification … for something like First aid/Defib, IMO it is well worth the time as well as the money. Then there are things like fall arrest, where we are learning knew things about the body & the effect falling in a harness or hanging in one can do to it. Not to mention all the new equipment that is coming out, retraining is often first time training with new techniques & gear.
I know some stuff is frustrating …WHMIS in particular is IMO common sense. But all one needs to do is browse the daily paper(s) or internet to see common sense isn’t all that common.
which sort of reminds me f a guy making 300 k a year. why the fuck would you want just letters, money is better. now if you said 300 grand a year, maybe you would not be looked at like the idiot that you are. yes, i like dollars, not fucking letters or any of that shit. let’s see you print out a bunch of k’s on a sheet of paper, then go to try to buy something? it don’t fucking work.
Zzzzzzz.
“TEACHING IS NOT A PROFESSION”
Just an update on my last post. A re-count of the number of letters after my name should be 13 and not 12. If I added GSD this would boost the total up to 16 letters! Can you imagine? Now, if I only could learn to count.
Anyway, the question of the nature of what constitutes a “profession” is of some theoretical interest. As it happens I wrote a letter to The Gazette some time ago. It was entitled (by them, not by me) as “Teaching is not a profession.”
My thinking went like this: The Concise Oxford Dictionary (my old friend) defines a “profession” as “a vocation or calling that involves some branch of learning or science, as the learned professions”.
So, to be a professional one must be on the inside of a distinctive and objective theoretical body of knowledge which constitutes the basis of professional practice. For the doctor it consists of the theory of biologically-based medicine, for the laywer the theory of legal precedent and jurisprudence, but to what body of distinctive theoretical knowledge does the practice of teaching appeal? For those who claim that “pedagogy” constitutes such an objective and distinctive theoretical body of knowledge the requirement then becomes one of demonstrating the content of such a theory. The effort is bound to fail for there exists no such body of objective theoretical knowledge. “Pedagogy,” it would seem, is little more than a craft or a even possibly a dramatic art but for which there exists no stable objective body of knowledge. (A possibility might be a philosophically or psychologically-grounded pedagogy, one which appeals to a particular epistemology which articulates some theory of learning, but how many teachers function at this level?)
As was to be expected, my letter was not greeted with enthusiasm by the other teachers. In fact, some reacted irrationally – unable to mount counterarguments some resorted to dirty looks and others to angry silence. Was Montrealman concerned? What do you think?
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
medicine, specifically psychiatry does this too.
It’s a way to make money by convincing the world that normal behavior is actually this thing that needs to be addressed with some sort of pill, certification or goddamned parade.
Most people ARE stupid enough to buy into it.
“Most people ARE stupid enough to buy into it.”
this from someone who’s handle is ‘eats_crayons’
*larf larf*
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/2009…
Tim, how many “letters” are you entitled to put after your signature?
For the life of me, I can’t remember what qualifies.