A College Degree and Professional License (The Real Value)

In 1969 my Chiropractic college Columbia Institute of Chiropractic was having its Fiftieth Anniversary in New York at the Statler Hilton Hotel. There were between 300 to 400 chiropractors attending the seminars. The guest speakers were Dr. Sid Williams the founder of Life University, Henry Rothblat a prominent attorney that defended six Green Barets during the Vietnam Crisis and Melvin Belli a prominent California lawyer.

The three speakers were dynamic in their own respect but something that Melvin Bell stated has stayed with me all these years. During his lecture he stated that he was negotiating a deal with another attorney in his office. The other attorney had to go to the bathroom and later that other attorney filed a complaint with the California Bar and had Melvin Belli's license suspended for one month.

What was the cause of this action? Well, Melvin Belli did not hang his college diploma or professional license in his office or consultation room he hung them in the toilet. He was during his time one of the best trial lawyers for personal injury in the country. It was his belief that once you receive your degree and license if do not you apply what you have learned and do the proper service for mankind then those certificates are only as good as toilet paper.

To my knowledge he corrected the situation by hanging his certificates in his consultation room.

I remember a few years ago also that many of the larger companies were looking to very expensive schools for managers and upper echelon executives. Some corporations found out that it may have not been the best solution to the design of their business. What they ended up doing was looking to the military and the military schools because of the attitude of working as a team which was not the attitude of executives that had graduated from some of the more expensive colleges. In these cases it wasn't the cost of the education that mattered but the value of the education that mattered.

What you learn through being educated should be transmitted back to mankind by way of the specialty you prefer to be certified in, to not do this is a travesty to yourself,family, friends and people with whom you do business. Just because you may have a diploma or a professional license hanging on the wall doesn't mean anything unless you apply what you have learned to help people with the knowledge you have learned.