Wayfaring Man
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This would be a great idea if there were ways to get degrees in the US without going through the for-profit education industry. It is a terrible condition our country is in where education requires thousands of dollars at least, often tens of thousands, for even 2 or 4 year degrees. Requiring someone to get a degree is a fruitless act that does little but benefit the for-profit education system.
What would be the benefit? It would prove that someone has a creditable, good education that meets relevant standards? That's the entire point of the NREMT in the first place, and requiring a degree won't help anything there.
Edit: I see on page 2 you're comparing to other countries. Other countries have significantly different education systems. Australia literally has the best (tied with Denmark and Finland) education system per Education Index in the entire world. Tertiary education (college and technical trade) is funded by tax dollars. The average total cost of a degree in Australia is less than $8000.
They also use a UK-derived model. There are physicians in Australia with bachelor's degrees.
Simply adopting a degree requirement because another country has done is utterly unreasonable when our education system is so utterly broken by comparison. There is no way to implement a "have a degree or else" requirement, at least not at the BLS level. At the ALS level, many medic programs already are part of an associates program or higher, and there is enough content in a medic class to call it a degree in itself, but putting that in the hands of for-profit universities only is a sure way to guarantee the costs go up, making the degree ultimately less viable as the earning potential relative to the cost to get the degree goes down.
One thing the US definitely does not need more of is young working people saddled with virtually unlimited debt that will follow them to their graves.
What would be the benefit? It would prove that someone has a creditable, good education that meets relevant standards? That's the entire point of the NREMT in the first place, and requiring a degree won't help anything there.
Edit: I see on page 2 you're comparing to other countries. Other countries have significantly different education systems. Australia literally has the best (tied with Denmark and Finland) education system per Education Index in the entire world. Tertiary education (college and technical trade) is funded by tax dollars. The average total cost of a degree in Australia is less than $8000.
They also use a UK-derived model. There are physicians in Australia with bachelor's degrees.
Simply adopting a degree requirement because another country has done is utterly unreasonable when our education system is so utterly broken by comparison. There is no way to implement a "have a degree or else" requirement, at least not at the BLS level. At the ALS level, many medic programs already are part of an associates program or higher, and there is enough content in a medic class to call it a degree in itself, but putting that in the hands of for-profit universities only is a sure way to guarantee the costs go up, making the degree ultimately less viable as the earning potential relative to the cost to get the degree goes down.
One thing the US definitely does not need more of is young working people saddled with virtually unlimited debt that will follow them to their graves.
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