Future of Continuing Education
Posted: September 24th, 2007
By: Dan Mandelbaum
Category: Opinion Corner

In the past 25 years, continuing education requirements have increasingly become mandatory for most professional fields in the U.S.  What was once thought of as isolated mandates made by the respective professions' governing boards, is now a national trend.  Today, Continuing Education is mandatory for Law, Accounting, Real Estate, Psychology, Pharmaceuticals, etc.   So what's the reason for the shift towards mandatory CE?
 
Gone are the days when simple word-of-mouth can supply you with all the clients/patients/partners you need.  The internet, fueled by lightning fast search mechanisms and an endless array of advertisers, gives consumers more choices of professionals than one could ever hope to need.  With this endless display of professionals to choose from, comes an even greater issue of "Buyers Beware."   Consumers want protection and deserve accountability.  Why pay for the services of one who may not have furthered their studies in their practice area in possibly years?   Consumers have a right to get the most out of their money, just as the governing bodies of individual fields have a right to put their best people forward.  Mandatory Continuing Education ensures that passing the Bar, receiving a license, or becoming accredited, doesn't mark the end of a practitioner's formal education - but rather, just the beginning.  After all, there is a reason that Law, Medicine, Accounting, etc is called a "practice" as opposed to a "profession."  By the nature of the word, shouldn't working in a "practice" require some sort of continued education or training?
 
So what fields will Continuing Education become mandatory in next?   Journalism?  Banking?  Maybe even Culinary Arts?   Regardless, CE is soon becoming a staple of professional businesses and fields.  And rightfully so.  Just as you wouldn't want your physician treating your migraine with penicillin, you wouldn't want your attorney offering obsolete and out of date legal advice.  So the next time your CE requirement's deadline approaches, don't look at it as "useless" or "inconvenient", but rather, a way to stay up to date, ahead of the game, and most importantly, as serviceable and functional to your consumers as possible.  

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Comments
I don't think there is a profession that wouldn't benefit from mandatory continuing education requirements. The "practices" definitely need to keep up to date on the current laws, procedures, etc. But even those individuals in "standard" jobs need to be kept up to date on the changing trends as technology hurtles ahead. What once was the "simple" job of answering the telephone has become more complicated with all the new advances in technology - I can barely get my messages off my phone and work - I had to be trained by the tech who installed the phone. To be able to keep up in the world everyone has to be trained and retrained and then retrained again - there's no longer the ability to sit back and smuggly say - I know all I need to know about my job - we've always done it this way - this way is yesterday's way and tomorrow's way will most likely be different - and you can never know all you need to know.
Comment By: Mona Piontkowski - September 28, 2007

I agree with everthing said. This is the wave of the future
Comment By: Steve - October 2, 2007