Dean Langdell of the Harvard Law School converted legal education from a bachelor's degree (the LL.B.) to a three year graduate degree (the J.D.) in the 19th century in order to raise the level of legal education in the United States. By making it very difficult to get a degree, the value of the degree and the holder increased tremendously. Other top schools rapidly followed suit. Modern lawyers, even the lousy ones, are very well educated and command high pay and a variety of perks in almost every market.

I also think it's noteworthy that virtually all police departments start their new hires in patrol work. You don't go straight to detective work or into forensic work, you start out dealing with traffic tickets, domestic calls and whatever else is out there. Their specialized jobs call for a lot of technical training, so they only give that training to people who've already demonstrated their commitment to the work. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the attrition rates in large police departments with those of the military.

The Army's current recruiting slogan says in effect "Join the Army and we'll make you strong." That'll get a lot of warm bodies to sign up. A better one might be "Join the Army - if you're strong enough." That'll get the *right* people to sign up. The Marines have a poster with a tagline that says "We don't accept applications, only commitments." That's definitely moving in the right direction.

In order to get high caliber recruits and retain them the armed forces has to become an elite profession. Military experience should be a coveted asset.