Oladji, Jeannette: Credentialing

      According to the article Death by Degrees, “Today, we take it for granted that practicing medicine or law requires years of costly credentialing in unrelated fields.” Because I plan to have a career in medicine, I will have to finish my four years in college and then after that go for another four years in medical school for me to become credentialed according to the example set by the Johns Hopkins University. A pediatrician doesn’t need to know much about orthopedic surgery or obstetrics; but we will have to spend time and money learning those things to become “credentialed” as a doctor.

          If I did not graduate from college or go to medical school or graduate school, all my plans

to become a doctor would change because I did not meet what is required to become a doctor;

because becoming a doctor requires so much education and licensing. I can say that, in some ways,

I am being forced to have certain credentials to achieve some goals. Those credentials are not

what truly qualifies one to be a doctor, but one must have those credentials to be a respected doctor

in today’s society. As the article pointed out, “million-dollar medical training isn’t necessary to

perform an abortion,” and this principle carries over into the legal field: “routine legal matters could

easily, and cheaply, be handled by noninitiates.”

                  If I did not go to medical school after receiving my bachelor’s degree to achieve my goals, I would have to completely change my goals for both my career and my life. The only alternative will be to look for just something as a job to do. I will be forced to do what I did not plan to do, what I did not have any interest in just to survive instead of something I love to do or have passion for; I think that can affect my life in all areas.  

             All those examples show how critical it can be if someone does not have any

credentials today in our society because without it we cannot go further in education and achieve

what we really want to do in life. I can say that those of us who want to be doctors

are definitely being forced to become credentialed if we want to have a profitable, respectable

career in the medical field. Without the credentials, we could not even call ourselves “doctors,” and 

we would face legal repercussions if we practiced medicine.