I’m not one to say it doesn’t matter. I know the benefit good nursing provides. I’m saying, in modern culture, especially in the circles who have political, economic, and cultural power, there is, and has been for decades, a push to think of a college education as an investment product that benefits the purchaser, with little to no consideration being given to societal benefit. They are acting as if your work is not more meaningful/beneficial to society than, say, a Marketing Director. (a position of similar wage which I would say is, at least, not as beneficial, if not actually harmful to society)
Nursing, for instance, is a profession, or even a vocation, which provides tremendous societal benefit, both in the direct ‘people’s lives in medical settings suck less’ sense and in the indirect ‘people get back to health and productivity’ sense. Despite this, it’s not common, as far as I’ve seen, for governments to offer much in the way of benefits to nurses as reward for their service. There’s even a tendency to, when they ask for a raise, to take an attitude of ‘You should be happy. At least you get to know you’re helping people. We need all these extra profits to help compensate us for doing our jobs that don’t help people.’
Mostly as an aside, I’ve actually thought for years that nurses and doctors who are providing direct care to patients (i.e. not people who went to Med/Nursing school and then went into medicine-adjacent business, but people putting in direct labor to help heal people) should have a significant tax cut. Their work benefits society more than the money it would represent, and a cut would make their lives easier, and help balance the years of tuition and effort it takes to get to that position.
I’m not one to say it doesn’t matter. I know the benefit good nursing provides. I’m saying, in modern culture, especially in the circles who have political, economic, and cultural power, there is, and has been for decades, a push to think of a college education as an investment product that benefits the purchaser, with little to no consideration being given to societal benefit. They are acting as if your work is not more meaningful/beneficial to society than, say, a Marketing Director. (a position of similar wage which I would say is, at least, not as beneficial, if not actually harmful to society)
Nursing, for instance, is a profession, or even a vocation, which provides tremendous societal benefit, both in the direct ‘people’s lives in medical settings suck less’ sense and in the indirect ‘people get back to health and productivity’ sense. Despite this, it’s not common, as far as I’ve seen, for governments to offer much in the way of benefits to nurses as reward for their service. There’s even a tendency to, when they ask for a raise, to take an attitude of ‘You should be happy. At least you get to know you’re helping people. We need all these extra profits to help compensate us for doing our jobs that don’t help people.’
Mostly as an aside, I’ve actually thought for years that nurses and doctors who are providing direct care to patients (i.e. not people who went to Med/Nursing school and then went into medicine-adjacent business, but people putting in direct labor to help heal people) should have a significant tax cut. Their work benefits society more than the money it would represent, and a cut would make their lives easier, and help balance the years of tuition and effort it takes to get to that position.