It is not until recent years that licentiation through national examination has become the trend for all helping professions in Taiwan. Getting a nationally accredited license seems to become synonymous to a higher level of social status, a guarantee for better financial reward, as well as more respect for professional autonomy. In this wave of licentiation, the Act of Social Workers (ASW) has set up an important example for other helping professions. However, it is yet to decide whether the autonomy for professional social workers has been improved after the implementation of ASW. This is the question that the authors of the paper try to answer. This paper is composed of three parts: The first part reviews the history of the profession of social workers and the historical context for the passage of ASW. The second part examines the dialectic relationships between social work practitioners, the academia, and the national examination system. The relatively low rate for passing the examination leads to direct confrontation between social work practitioners and scholars as the system weakens the independent-thinking capacity of the front-line workers. The long-term effect is that licentiation will transform social work education into a commodity. Still worse, the small number of scholars, who are involved with the work of examination, can control or even monopolize the development .in the related academic fields. The authors conclude by suggesting that the process of licentiation is actually a process for losing professional autonomy. Instead of licentiation, the authors suggest that establishment of unions should be a better option for the various groups of practitioners in the helping profession.