ABSTRACT
College professors are presently valued for their research. They are not valued for their teaching skills. Research is considered an excellent investment while the teachers’ ability to teach students is of a secondary interest. Efforts should be made to promote excellence in teaching, but the problem is that doctorate level exercise physiologists see themselves as researchers partly because that is how they were educated. To make matters worse, the professors fails in providing the students accurate information about the exercise physiology degree. Is it valued by physicians? Do nurses and other healthcare professionals understand the exercise physiologists’ role in healthcare? This is a major concern that needs immediate attention, especially since misinformation can’t help the students. The failure to update degree programs with career-specific opportunities also impacts the students’ parents and family members. It is one thing to finish college with a high debt and find a job, and something else altogether different for students to graduate with thousands of dollars in debt and find themselves unable to get a job. A great injustice lies in failing to know specifically “what is exercise physiology” and “who is an exercise physiologist” and why both are essential to promoting and developing professionalism in exercise physiology. Exercise physiologists with and without the doctorate degree must come together in the freedom of thought and action to form a better image of what they want to be. The temptation to conform to yesterday’s thinking must be replaced by an updated intellectual curiosity, an aptitude and willingness for professional development, and the desire and power to leverage new ideas and concepts.
