Hello everyone:
I have been following this thread with interest because I am wondering why
everyone is afraid of a degree.  We are talking about future histotechs,
not us old timers, although I do have a A.S. degree and both my HT and HTL.
 I did take the HTL with it first came out, passed and was grandfathered
in.  But I still do not get the recognition here at my hospital.  They make
no differentiation between an HT or an HTL person.  Because of this fact, I
feel we need more B.S. degree people in histology so we can be supervised
by a histotech and not a med tech.  I am really getting sick and tired of
med techs telling us what to do and how to run the department, when they
have no idea what goes on.  As a matter of fact, one med tech told me that
because the requirements for her job was different than my job,  the pay
should be different, we should not be making as much as them.  Nice huh!   
     Our field is a mixture of science and a little bit of art thrown in. 
So what, does that make us less important or intelligent.  I think not!  It
just makes us different.  We are very important to the field of medicine,
don't you agree?   How many med techs do you know who want to do our job? 
Very few.  So we should be encouraging the next generation to get their
degrees and improve the status of the field.  I guess you can tell how my
days have been lately! :)  Thanks for listening.

Kathy Liucci
Mesa, AZ