Professional education and professional ethics

A professional is one who uses some specific skill and knowledge to earn the necessary livelihood for oneself and one’s family. Faulty understanding of life among professionals would lead to wrong application of knowledge leading to various problems in society. After all the goal of knowledge is to ensure happiness and prosperity and their continuity to all human beings (Box 38.1). At the outset, to follow Gaur et al. (Gaur et al., 2010, 231) professional education may be defined as that through which one acquires the specific skills and knowledge “in order to make his contribution in the larger order”. The term profession refers to gainful economic activities which require a special type of education. After acquiring professional skills one works as a professional in a specific domain of activities. In application of skills and knowledge learnt as part of profession he has to take decisions which may have powerful impact on society. To Gaur et al. a professional appears to be a custodian of his skills which must be used for advancement of society. Yet, in practice, after getting professional education one looks for a professional career. Through his professional training, one aims at achieving his own goals of life. So there is an inherent conflict. Is professional education for the furtherance of goals of society or furtherance of the goals of the professional?

Unlike the illiterate labor the professionals would have taken decisions which have a great bearing on society and, therefore, along with professional education there is a need for professional ethics, so that the professional engages in “the right utilization of one’s professional skills towards the fulfillment of comprehensive human goal …”. Ethical conduct of profession is as important as the knowledge base of professionals.