24 Nov 2008, 12:18
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 24 Nov 2008, 12:19
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[Unfinished but I'll add it here]
Why is it we value "professional" occupations (egs??) over farmers, refuse-collectors or hairdressers, when these workers have a far greater effect on our daily lives as concerns our continued ability to stay alive, our continued health and our continued sense of self-esteem and confidence.For most people, do doctors or lawyers or accountants have much of a direct influence on their daily lives?
We might state that professionals learn and train for years. But don't car mechanics as well. Why is the training a lawyer has more "professional" and therefore more important than that of a car mechanic? Doesn't the professionalism of our car mechanic have a direct and immediate effect on our own safety, that of our family and the safety of thousands of other people we might drive past every day? The continued professionalism of a lawyer, accountant, even a doctor rarely protects or affects our lives on a daily basis.
Professional occupations are the higher profile (white-collar?) jobs that are, or can be, critical to us at particular times in our lives. We take for granted the many other occupations, trades, work, labour upon which society relies to function. Why is this? Why is it we don't value the 70 hour weeks and professionalism that the office-cleaner, bus-driver, sandwich-maker puts in? Is it because "professionals" are the judge of the extraordinary value of "professional professionalism" and the commonplace/mediocre value of "unskilled/less skilled work"?
Why is it we value "professional" occupations (egs??) over farmers, refuse-collectors or hairdressers, when these workers have a far greater effect on our daily lives as concerns our continued ability to stay alive, our continued health and our continued sense of self-esteem and confidence.For most people, do doctors or lawyers or accountants have much of a direct influence on their daily lives?
We might state that professionals learn and train for years. But don't car mechanics as well. Why is the training a lawyer has more "professional" and therefore more important than that of a car mechanic? Doesn't the professionalism of our car mechanic have a direct and immediate effect on our own safety, that of our family and the safety of thousands of other people we might drive past every day? The continued professionalism of a lawyer, accountant, even a doctor rarely protects or affects our lives on a daily basis.
Professional occupations are the higher profile (white-collar?) jobs that are, or can be, critical to us at particular times in our lives. We take for granted the many other occupations, trades, work, labour upon which society relies to function. Why is this? Why is it we don't value the 70 hour weeks and professionalism that the office-cleaner, bus-driver, sandwich-maker puts in? Is it because "professionals" are the judge of the extraordinary value of "professional professionalism" and the commonplace/mediocre value of "unskilled/less skilled work"?
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