Professionalization of Exercise Physiologyonline


ISSN 1099-5862   Vol 6 No 4  June 2003 

    Editor-in-Chief
    Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, MA, FASEP, EPC

Ten Commandments for Choosing a Career
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP, EPC
Professor and Chair
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811 

“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here? 

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. 

– Alice in Wonderland

A STUDENT WALKED in my office, stopped, looked around, and said: “Is exercise physiology a good major?”  Before I could get a good look at her, she said, “Tell me, where do they work?”  By then, I knew that if I was going to help her, I needed to speak quickly.  That’s exactly what I did. 

Just as she had leaped into my office with questions, I plunged head on into different jobs and career opportunities in exercise physiology.  Without realizing it, my message was also “healthcare” and that exercise physiologists are healthcare professionals.  It’s true.  Those were exactly my first words.  I found myself heading for the obvious, “Here, let me show you the ASEP web site.”  From there, I got really involved.  First, this page, and then I presented about a dozen or so other pages.  I may have gotten a bit too helpful.  Most students want a quick answer.  They aren’t interested in a mini-course on “what is exercise physiology”.

When I think about it, she got an hour lecture in just 10 minutes.  Talk about being passionate about my work or maybe just plain dumb.  I wish that I could be more like everybody else with numerous other priorities.  It makes at times perfect sense that it would be the right thing to do.  The problem is that I find myself fighting sacred cows day-by-day.  Why I’m involved up to my neck in writing about professionalism, and why I run from one article to the next is to reinforce my lifelong commitment to students and to positive images of exercise physiology.

The only way I can keep afloat on the students’ behalf is to take on the political taboos.  It’s a vastly different way of living than I would otherwise desire.  But, since I believe strongly that the first responsibility of college teachers is to their students, I’m afraid that I have little energy left for other activities.  The following pages discuss Ten Commandments to help students understand why they are attending college to choose an academic major. 

Like a lot of other chairs and directors in public service throughout the higher education system, collectively, we are concerned about how we can make academics more meaningful to our students.  How we are able to do this depends on what we can do to support the “dignity” of each student.  To me, it is a moral issue:  Students deserve our absolute honesty.  Whatever we can do to help them develop the right attitude towards professionalism, and to help make their life worth the college experience is an activity that we are expected to do.  After all, the payoff for a college education is not just the accumulation of knowledge.  It is also about trust and a close working relationship between students and faculty.

I. An education without a purpose is not an education

Students attend college for a purpose.  Parents send their children to college with the idea that they will find employment following graduation.  This is “the” reason parents and students alike invest in education.  The generally understood infrastructure of the college environment is to set the stage for emotional and mental retooling that translates into meaningful employment.  By no means is this a precedent setting point of view or a belief that is unattainable.

II. Show respect to college teachers and their environment

College teachers are an integral part of the academic major and, therefore, the students’ assurance of a credible professional position in the public sector.  Their moral and intellectual capacities are critical to the students’ success and choice of profession.  If only students could grasp the importance of this singular, but incredible fact, they would instantly improve the educational process and get the most bang for their buck.  The attitude or feeling that students have toward teachers and the teaching process will help determine the success of their interaction. 

III. Be passionate and focused as an emerging professional

Whether viewed as a student or, in the expanded sense, as a healthcare professional, the many-facets of the educational process require a strong will.  Indeed, any professional education is both a choice and a determination.  It is also the opportunity to work on behalf of others, to improve their health and well-being and, where possible, to realize a sense of the reality.  In all this thinking, the key to increasing professionalism, once it is recognized as important, is to be guided by passion and the time spent focused on the decision to act as a responsible member of the emerging profession.

IV. Maximize the educational experience

I believe if students start asking the right questions about exercise physiology, they improve their chances of experiencing a formal, professional education.  Hence, by asking questions and by getting involved in the profession, the students become part of the change process.  But, first, it is imperative that they begin the process and not just wait for others to do the work.  The number of professional issues that must be address is significant.  The concerns of the consumer are important, too.  All of these things speak to the practice of exercise physiology.  The message is:  Get involved, particularly for those students who are paying a staggering price $60,000 to $80,000 for courses.  There must be a significant educational return.  In fact, it is down right a tragic mistake (however common) if there isn’t a positive return. 

V. Treat education as a beginning not an end 

Too often, students believe themselves somehow part of a course or a semester without links to the real world.  Much is to be gained from treating every course as a critical part of a “virtual” client’s total healthcare.  Accountability is awesome; it begins with a rigorous responsibility to playfully, imaginatively, and with ingenuity to demonstrate not just a willingness but also the ability to reduce the issues and concerns that associate with longevity.  In other words, students should roll up their sleeves and get involved, look for logical signals that link educational content with everyday events in life.

VI. Stay the course, do not get caught up in uncertainty

The forward-looking view of profound career opportunities is significantly psychologically enhancing when persistence leads to success and satisfaction.  e persistent.  Stay the course.  Don’t get side tracked when you are unable or unwilling to be mentally available in class.  In other words, to stay the course is to not blow the education but to take responsibility for the work and behavior required to excel.  This is the key to leaving college with an understanding and insight into exercise physiology that is instrumental in creating health professionals.  

VII. Seek clarity in purpose

It is easy to become overloaded with information, and it is easy to become frustrated too.  Often, both are causes for anxiety and confusion.  The message is simple:  Seek clarity in purpose.  The first step toward achieving your educational goals is to examine the reasons why each course is part of the curriculum.  With the right frame of mind, students learn to separate the important from the less important.  The subtle individual differences among teachers can help determine relevant material from the less important.  Thus it is important that students have some knowledge of teachers as human beings and, therefore, how to listen and how to accurately decipher the meaning of the lectures.

VIII. Learn to control your fear

As a teacher, I see it from time to time.  Ask a question in class and the temperature of the room rises (or, at least, it seems to).  When asked a question, some students become paralyzed by fear.  You can see it in their eyes.  The message here is basic.  No one can or should tune out the anxious moments in class.  Learning to control fear is important.  Similarly, no one can be or should be so bored or overconfident to care less about responding in a professional manner.  The struggle to listen, to think, and to stay involved is part of the confirming process that goes with the education.  Learn to concentrate, listen with an open mind, and participate with confidence.  An education is a two-way street; sometimes we must fail to know the right path.

IX. Get beyond personal biases

Students are products of their environment.  More than they realize, they think and act like their parents.  They interpret the communication between two people based on what has been shared and internalized with friends and other people within their cultures.  Some, if not, most of it establishes an excellent and mature way to live life.  Still, there is always the question about race, religion, and ethnic origins that influences behavior.  And, of course, there are many other reasons for anxiety, too.  My point is that biases can (and do) get in the way of your ultimate goal, which is your education and your professional development and all the other underlying factors that increase opportunities and resources on behalf of the public sector.

X. Learn how to think

Students are faced with many challenges, one of which is to learn “how to think” and not “what to think”.  Membership in the first comes at high price, but it is worth the effort.  Membership in the second is all too obvious.  The education of our students is too important to not teach them the difference between the two.  Certainly, learning what to think is a very high priority, but it isn’t the first priority.  This point is critical to the students’ education.  It isn’t an easy task and, yet it is an inexcusable mistake to not learn how to think.  Thomas Aquinas said it best, “A small mistake in the beginning makes for a large mistake at the end.”  So it is in education where issues of serious reflection guide professionals.