I was listening to a podcast about massage and physical therapy assistants. The PTA on the podcast mentioned that in new Jersey that he could do everything a PT could minus diagnose. The PT had to sign off on his paperwork but clearly the state considers the PTA to be a highly trained professional.
However it takes 2 years to become a PTA and 7.5 to become a PT. Four of those years are undergrad. Is this actually necessary? Could we produce PTs in say 4.5 years? 3.5 of from their current post grad work with an additional 1 year of targeted undergrad like courses.
I believe this is anti work because education can be a huge obstacle to people getting better jobs. It seems like in some careers we kind of give people requirements that don't always serve the career they join. It just increases the gap between what the children of the haves and have nots are likely to achieve.
It also creates a situation where people have to pay back their student loans for increasingly long college careers and therefore feel trapped in jobs they don't enjoy but pay well. Sometimes I wonder if we need to greatly reduce the type of jobs and careers that require an undergraduate degree.