Are standards that important?

I truly believe standards are important and that no matter what the profession we should all hold ourselves to a high standard for many reasons. Some reasons are ethical obligations to the profession and clients, to determine job descriptions and qualifications, and to also determine salaries. Standards are used to help employees and clients alike. There are situations where standards hurt and can hinder a profession. For example my profession is social work, it has been a long and grueling task for the standards of social work to finally get there due. Social Workers are getting a portion of the salaries and some of the recognition that they have so long deserved, but there is still more work to be done, we still have to strive for better. But now Social Workers have to keep up with the standard of excellence through continued education and training, supervision and through licensure, not to mention the student loans that have accumulated through advanced education. Licensure is another issue of stanards that has been a challenging one. I myself failing the licensing exam in New York twice, I cant find a decent paying clinical job without it and so many other social workers that I associate with also are finding the task difficult. There are good social workers out there that cannot keep up due to a state exam and yet they are wonderful, proficient, and compassionate to the profession despite this fact. What social workers have been a long time awaiting for is now become a standard that has come to bite us in the butt.