History
Funeral directing can first unofficially be seen in ancient times; it is not something new. Most famous are the Egyptians who embalmed their dead. In the United States, funeral directing was not generally in high esteem before the 20th century, especially in comparison to physicians, but because many funeral directors study embalming as part of mortuary science programs, they can be classified as a part of the medical field.
Funeral directors gained higher status that peaked in the 1950s but which later declined in the 1960s and 1970s. Many reputations were eroded as a result of high profile exposés on unethical sales practices and police investigations that followed criminally negligent behavior of some morticians. However, funeral homes remain a necessity in society, though employment growth until 2014 is expected to increase at a slower rate compared to other occupations.
Read more about this topic: Mortuary Science
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“... in America ... children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)