On 9/25/2012 8:44 AM, Jillaine Smith wrote: > What benefits would accrue to the field of genealogy and those it serves = > from an academic-degree-based licensing system? And what are the = > risks/costs of not doing so?=20 Benefits: Proper, recognized training; more assurance that a vetted and reviewed body of knowledge had been imparted; contact with and peer review by other similarly-qualified people; more serious, peer-reviewed development of the body of knowledge (which we already have, in part, with the top journals in the field); more public confidence in our field and its practitioners; recognition of genealogy as an academic discipline in its own right, and the respect that comes with that (which is where I want the field to be, anyway). Risks: Continued practice by charlatans (which are going to be there anyway if licensing is instituted, but perhaps in reduced numbers); continued confusion on the part of the public (who is professional? what does that mean? -- just the questions we're asking here; and if we are not clear on it, how can the public be clear?); little recourse for the public who may be subjected to the practice of a charlatan; continued "second-class" treatment of the field ("hobbyists"). > What will it take to have an objective procedure for reviewing and and = > holding accountable perpetrators of professional abuses? > > Legal sanction. Legislation. And, I know some don't want to hear it: government (generally at the state level, with departments or bureaus of professional regulation) regulation. Karen Packard Rhodes currently residing in Pinellas Park, Pinellas County, Florida