This step-by-step thought process goes back a week or two, when we were
discussing various titles and initials.  I was trying to put together a
profile on all the various initials - who gives them, prerequisites,
requirements, recertification, and so on, because there's obviously a lot of
confusion even among us, let alone among consumers.  Seemed like the logical
place to start: define our terms.

But then I thought, "To be fair, we need to include the other large courses
out there that don't offer initials.  They're basically the same in content
as those that offer initials, and they haven't even been *mentioned* so
far!"

And then I thought "Of course, if we do, would that be construed as
advertising?"  And then I thought, "On the other hand, these courses that
offer the initials are *also* commercial operations.  So just by offering
the initials and getting them used, those courses *are* advertising."

And then it hit me:  "Whatever else they may represent, the initials
themselves are a marketing device!  They're like the Nike swoosh.  Every
time a certificate-holder signs her name, she advertises the course that
gave the certificate.  And lactnet has just spent days discussing *those*
courses, while avoiding the slightest mention of any other course because
*that*, of course, would be advertising!"

And then I thought of the Olympics.  "Coca-Cola and others spent
multi-millions on commercial breaks that will be deleted any time portions
of the Olympics are replayed in schools, because those are obviously ads.
Nike didn't have a single editable ad... but it had a swoosh on countless
athletes.  The athletes *themselves* did the advertising!  It's not just
that people who take these short courses like to be given initials as a
result, the initials themselves are the single best marketing device a
course could come up with!  And here we've been promoting the courses that
provide initials at the expense of all other equally good courses for
several days now without even knowing it!"

And then I thought, "College and medical initials are *earned* at
money-making institutions, granted, but those institutions are allowed to
grant the initials because they are in turn under the supervision of a
non-commercial overseer.  You can't just set up your own college and start
passing out BSs or MDs.  There are no widely-accepted credentials (though
certainly there are courses in all fields that offer certificates of
participation) that come directly from the course itself.  So let's see...
what un-self-credentialed breastfeeding initials are there?  Only IBCLC.
The others are *all* course-generated.  Mother-to-mother groups like LLLI
have their own accreditation programs, but they don't offer initials at all,
as far as I know."

And then I thought, "But some of these courses are offered by non-profit
organizations.  How are they different from IBLCE, which is also non-profit
and which you could say advertises every time someone refers to herself as
an IBCLC?  Ah!  IBLCE offers a credential, but no course that results in it.
Just as the national association of college accreditation (or whatever it
is) sets up the criteria but doesn't teach the courses."

I wondered just what IBLCE's set-up is.  Turns out it's certified by the
NCCA, which I'd never heard of.  The National Commission for Certifying
Agencies examines a given health-related (I think) organization that wishes
to issue certification, and verifies that the criteria that that
organization has established for application and achievement of
accreditation are solid enough to be "for real".  A course that offers its
own end-of-course certificate could *apply* to the NCCA, but by the very
nature of its being its own testing facility, it wouldn't be accepted.  Just
as I couldn't call myself CUTE (Certified Undeniably Trim and Elegant) and
have those be "real" initials just because I set up my own criteria for
myself and then announced that I had met them.

So now I'm not sure where to go next.  I don't know that it *matters* so
much what the standards of the self-certifying courses are, because the
certifications are, well, self-certifying, and there are lots and lots of
excellent courses - big and small - out there, and they *all* improve the
knowledge base of the people who take them.  We're left, really, with IBLCE
and the national and international mother-to-mother groups.  Would people
still like to see a listing of the standards/prereq's, etc for them?

--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html