Nofia's post brought to mind my engineer-husband who is an engineer but without a degree. Tom's been in the field forever, and has been working on his degree for the past 14 years, one or two classes at a time, while also trying to be a father and a husband. He is good at what he does also, and deserves to be paid for his knowledge while working on the piece of paper. So I guess I'm thinking about engineers, their exam, and their PRE-exam. Did you know that most engineering students take an exam in their junior year--- it's called the EIT (Engineer-In-Training). According to my husband, this test is valuable for those who have knowledge but lack experience (which applies mostly to young college students) and want to be able to sit for the engineering exam sooner. For those who have lots of experience in the field already (like my husband), this pre-exam is not necessary. Now wouldn't this be perfect for IBCLC wannabes? Pass a preliminary exam on lactation to gain "resident" status. It would mean that you have the basic knowledge and are just working on experience. What do you all think? Might give people like the Israelis something to start with that gives them some credibility in their country. One thing's for sure: our current system does not meet needs internationally yet, and needs continuing revision towards that goal. This might be one way of recognizing a student status that gives credibility to the term. -Lisa Marasco, BA, IBCLC