TY - JOUR T1 - Is professionalism really definable? JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 68 LP - 68 VL - 41 IS - 2 AU - Daniel A. Poole Y1 - 1986/03/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/41/2/68.abstract N2 - PRINTED statements from my trash collector tell me he is a professional. Yet he routinely leaves bits of unwanted materials on the street in front of my home. These unwelcome embellishments are not called for in our contract. Mr. Goodwrench tells me he is a professional. Yet as often as not, when my car is serviced by Mr. Goodwrench, it runs little better than it did before it was surrended to his self-proclaimed, all-knowing ministrations. Physicians are professionals, and they too have a professional society. Yet substantiated malpractice and incompetence by members of that profession demonstrate the fallibility of such absolute claim. In my view, professionalism cannot be claimed or bought. It must be earned. Professionalism may well be indefinable, certainly in anything less than a monstrous monograph. Of two things I am convinced, however. The words “professional” and “professionalism” are “in” words, the convenient crutch for ad men who seek always for a word or brief phrase to carry a major burden. There is a well-engineered compulsion in our human society to relate to “in” things. A second conviction is that professionalism does not mean unanimity of opinion … ER -