Campus Connection

Are the professions of medicine and law so yesterday? 

Physicians and lawyers, once viewed as the epitome of elite professionals, may be falling in terms of public esteem, respect, and prestige, according to a popular article that recently appeared in the New York Times (“The Falling-Down Professions,” January 6, 2008). 

The article contends that these professions have lost their allure and no longer hold the social status or cachet that they once did because the definition of “success” has been so transformed in today's culture.  The word, once associated with purpose, importance, and respect, has come to mean entrepreneurship, creativity, and flexibility. 

Reflecting this shift, potential applicants are voting with their feet.  Figures provided within the article show a recent decline in the number applications to medical and law schools. 

Anecdotal evidence of the decline in stature of the professions is offered through the experiences of doctors and lawyers.  One doctor, commenting on a Medicare requirement that he complete forms for a patient who needed to replace balding tires on his wheelchair, griped, “I'm a doctor…not Mr. Goodwrench.” 

A law associate, who recalled 12-hour days of labeling legal briefs with Post-It notes, commented, “You look around at the other associates, trying to remind ourselves, why did we go to law school?”

The increase in demands and requirements of both professions may be fueling a shift by young professionals to enter newer and more innovative fields.  It's no surprise that a generation that's grown up on cell phones, video games, and MTV feeds into a mindset of flexibility and creativity that craves the “next big thing.” 

“There's a sexiness to starting something cool,” the article quoted a career development expert at NYU. “Now we have people trying to start a Facebook or a MySpace. You might be working like a maniac, but it's going to pay off in status. You're going to be famous, providing something people are going to know and use all over the world.”

A factor that the article only briefly touched upon is that medicine and law rarely offer the “be successful quick” route that so attractive to today's youth.  Today, we live in a culture of immediacy and twenty-somethings have grown accustomed to that.  From having the latest toy as a child to one-click purchasing on Amazon, we want everything right now.  The delayed gratification of hard work is out and replacing it is the instantaneous gratification of seeing success blossom nearly overnight.  This is, after all, the age of the Internet, e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, Blackberries, and the ADD-inspiring 24 hour news cycle.  Don't know the answer to a question?  Google it and find out…now. 

A little over a decade ago when the Information Age began, technology was the realm of nerds and geeks.  Today it is no longer about megahertz and bytes, but the application of technology.  It is now about designing tools to foster connections, networks, and other social concepts-YouTube, Ebay, and Wikipedia.  Technology and business are the “new frontier” creating a cutting edge environment where creativity, flexibility, and immediacy are valued and sought after by young professionals (witness the number of college graduates that aspire to join the ranks of Google).  Rote memorization, arcane knowledge, and a prolonged educational path (e.g. terminal degree in a field) are yesterday's skills. 

Meanwhile, pop culture only works to fuel the reverence that we are developing for today's successful entrepreneurs.  In past decades, Robert Shapiro, Johnny Cochran, and C. Everett Koop were household names over dinner.  In today's vernacular, we speak of self-made billionaires Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (who doesn't own an iPod?), and Craig's List has greater name recognition than Craig Venter. 

Lastly, there is the question of salary.  This may be a taboo topic in medicine and law because these are professions that are supposed to be nobler than financial gain, but the reality is that salary matters.  Medical and law students graduate saddled with debt, and while they make good income, it has not kept pace with other professions that meet the newly minted criteria of “success.”  A resident physician in his mid-thirties working 80 hours per week can be making $45,000 a year while a similarly-aged investment banker, perhaps with no more than a bachelor's degree, may have an income in the millions. 

Is it possible to remake two century-old professions into fields that will once again be attractive to young people or would doing so devalue them further and harm the quality of their graduates?  And if indeed, these two fields cannot be reformed or streamlined, is the shift in the perception of success only the tip of a looming “generational” iceberg?

However, not all has to be lost. As future lawyers and doctors, we need to remain conscious of the cultural changes going on around us and work within their context to alter the course of our professions. We need to re-inspire the young applicants of the future by placing greater value on flexibility and creativity as well as by incorporating a little more immediacy in rewards. The bottom line is that we need to realign our definition with the modern-day definition “success.” And if we can do that, we will continue to attract and retain the best and the brightest for generations to come.

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