Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

Why do we have Doctors? Why do we have added requirements to be members of the Bar? Nurse Practitioners, in my experience, are better diagnosticians because they take more time with "their patient." Lawyers used to have no entry requirements other than Bar Exam passage.

Could a CRJ Captain out fly a WWII Cadet? It isn't truly a valid point. Many WWII Cadets were unable to find jobs in aviation due to their lack of education.

Restrictions which limit the pool of qualified applicants result in less supply, which drives up demand and prices. While a Nurse Practitioner is worth $75K to $90K (around here) Doctors routinely earn $125K to $250 for the same skill set. If the Doctor further specializes into something highly technical, like anesthesiology, they can be worth $350K to $500K.

Could you or I do that job with a good database and some decent technical training? Sure. But, is that how the World works?

Where I come from a $180,000 a year job is still a big deal. It is worth the effort to prepare oneself for that opportunity. As professionals, one path to increase pay is to increase the minimum entry requirements. Management wants to lower costs and lower the standards to hold this position. They would hire $10 an hour rampers to fly airplanes, if they could. ALPA harmed this profession with the Pinnacle Bridge Agreement. Lee Moak (although I admire much of what he has done) and Capt. Wychor worked to lower standards in this profession.

and if you think I'm wrong, Southwest is an excellent airline.