You  guessed  wrong  on  the availability of schools for Histotechnol   ogy.   If  you  check  the  NSH  website  you  can see the schools and
   hospita=  ls  that  offer  certificates or degrees in Histotechnology.
   These  are  N=  AACLS  accredited  programs.   There are 12 that offer
   Associate  Degrees.=      Others offer certificates to those that meet
   the minimum educa= tion requirement for that program.



   Jennifer MacD= onald

   Mt. San Antonio College (one of the 12 schools offering as = Associate
   Degree)

   -----histonet-bounces@list= s.utsouthwestern.edu wrote: -----

     To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
     From: T= heBestTime23@aol.com
     Sent   by:   histonet-bounces@lists.utsouthwestern.edu<=   BR>Date:
     03/04/2005 03:28PM
     Subject:  [Histonet]  tried  posting  this once = already... didn't
     work.
     OK.   I=  really  wasn't expecting much of a response from my post,
     and  was
     really  surprised by what I got.  I want to start by apologizing to
     al= l  that I
     have  offended.   It  surely  wasn't my intent.  A= nd while I have
     thought of a lot
     of things to say in response to = your many e-mails, I will try  to
     keep this
     within reason.  <= BR>First:  I like my job.  I feel very fortunate
     to have gotten i= nto  a field
     that pays me well, keeps me interested and has a lot = of potential
     for  growth.
     I  take pride in the work that I do= and I love learning new things
      every day.
     I have recently = gotten the opportunity to train on immunos and  I
     couldn't be
     more= thrilled.
     Second,  and  probably more to the point:  I was really tr= ying to
     make a
     comment  about  the  requirements  for  being  a histote= ch, not a
     statement about the
     job itself.  The e-mail I was = responding to had mentioned 4 years
     of  college as
     a  pre-req,  and  =  I  thought  that  was  an excessive amount.  I
     probably have a
     s=  kewed  point  of view, having dropped out of college after only
     one sem= ester,
     but  I  think that there are many bright and talented people that      haven't gone to
     college  that  could still do wonderfully as histot= echs.  If  you
     had 4 years
     of  college as a requirement and ad= d another 2 to learn the histo
      stuff, you're
     looking  at  6 years. =  You could become a pathology assistant  in
     that amount
     of  ti=  me  and be earning a whole lot more when you were done and
     still  be working in a similar field.  That was my only real point.
      I &n= bsp;understand that they
     want  people to have more education and that's = fine.  I  like the
     way that the
     ASCP  also takes credit hours = into consideration and is not  just
     looking for a
     degree.  Bu= t 4 years, in my opinion, is too much.   WAY too much.
      I  would  <= BR>hate to think how many very talented histotechs we
     would not have = now had the
     requirements been that stiff 20 years ago.
     I  guess  my th= ird point is more of a question.  I know how I got
     to be  a
     h=  istotech.  I basically fell into it.  I knew someone who worked
     i= n  a lab and I
     started  as  a  lab aid, heard about on the job traini= ng and went
     from  there.  I
     know a lot of people who started = that way, or as phlebotomists or
      something
     similar.   How man= y people got started in a similar way?  I  also
     know  that  most people get a totally blank look on their face when
     you tell  them th= at you
     work  in  histology.  I had certainly never heard of it  = ;before.
     How many of you
     had?   I can't see many people looki= ng through  a course list and
     saying to
     themselves,  "oh,  histology=  ,  that  would  be perfect  for me",
     because most of them
     wouldn't  kn= ow what the heck it was.  As far  as I know (and this
     is mostly a     guess)  there aren't any 2 year programs at tech  schools or anyth     ing like that.
     Histology  is  kind of an anomaly that  way.  Ta= ught in hospitals
     and clinics,
     but not schools.  Maybe the on &nbs= p;the job training wasn't such
     a bad thing.  At
     least  it  would get= those  remaining empty spots full, until some
     more
     concrete  metho=  d of teaching our  craft is set up.  Just another
     thought.  = One that I
     hope won't get me  into any more trouble  : )
     <= BR>My apologies,
     Megan
     Grateful new histotech
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     Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
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References

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