Guest guest Posted July 14, 2000 Report Share Posted July 14, 2000 This was sent to me by a recent graduate of a highly regarded TCM program. The names have been deleted to protect the innocent from charges of libel. This student was generally regarded by his instructors and classmates as one of the top herb students in his graduating class. > > Hello > I was not unsatisfied with the quality of instructors I had in herbs at my > TCM school, but for a number of reasons I feel the school breeds > underachievers. They buckle too often to students' complaints that the > workload is too heavy (I know very few people who studied at all after first > year), they have cut the number of hours of training we get, and the > president has > openly and repeatedly stated, " This is an ENTRY level program. It gets you > licensed. " I luckily found the motivation to teach myself herbs, but I was > appalled by the miniscule amount of herbal knowledge necessary to graduate. > > My class was the first to be taught single herbs by a chinese reading > instructor. > I think his taking over that class vastly improved it. From > what I hear, the former teacher's approach was very westernized - assigning > one major symptom or syndrome ( " big fish " ) to each herb (incidentally, you > should see Dr. __'s reaction when he's asked about the " big fish " method - > utter disgust). Furthermore, he started teaching a two term elective on > herbal combinations. I shudder to think what my education would have been > like if he hasn't taken over the class & I wonder where this school's > reputation > for having a strong herbal program came from. > > As for formulas... well, I love Dr. __ and she is a great herbalist, but > she is not a great teacher. Very,very little was expected of us in that > class, so I never learned formulas thoroughly. Also the focus of the class > was more on symptom-based applications of the formulas than on explaning how > the formulas work. I don't know if the low standards of that class were Dr. > __'s or that of the school. > > Also, I didn't feel that our herbal education was integrated well enough > into the rest of our training. Herbs were often treated as a kind of > supplemental thing to the rest of the practice of Chinese medicine. > > Another disappointment was that almost none of the American supervisors know > anything about herbs (beyond major patents and some of the 7 forests line). > All of my third year, I tried to get Chinese supervisors in the clinic so > they could comment on my formulas. I NEVER had a non-Chinese supervisor > that could have even explained what the herbs in one of my formulas did - > much less make constructive suggestions. Just to make a point to the school > president about > this inadequacy (and potential danger!), I thought about writing a formula > for a very deficient patient, with herbs such as Yuan hua, Da ji, Gan sui, > etc., and having one of my American supervisors sign off on it (which any > one of them would have done, not knowing what any of those herbs are). I > didn't have the heart to do that to any of my supervisors though. > I could go on and on about this, but I'll spare you. > I hope this was more constructive than just bitching... > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2000 Report Share Posted July 23, 2000 In a message dated 7/14/00 4:44:55 PM, herb-t writes: << Another disappointment was that almost none of the American supervisors know > anything about herbs (beyond major patents and some of the 7 forests line). > All of my third year, I tried to get Chinese supervisors in the clinic so > they could comment on my formulas. I NEVER had a non-Chinese supervisor > that could have even explained what the herbs in one of my formulas did - > much less make constructive suggestions. Just to make a point to the school > president about >> I hate to say it, but it sounds like it came for the Northwest somewhere. They are severely lacking in herbal medicine due to a variety of political reasons. It shows inthe clinical ability of thier teachers. DAve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2000 Report Share Posted July 23, 2000 >In a message dated 7/14/00 4:44:55 PM, herb-t writes: > ><< Another disappointment was that almost none of the American supervisors >know > > anything about herbs (beyond major patents and some of the 7 forests line). > > All of my third year, I tried to get Chinese supervisors in the clinic so > > they could comment on my formulas. I NEVER had a non-Chinese supervisor > > that could have even explained what the herbs in one of my formulas did - > > much less make constructive suggestions. Just to make a point to >the school > > president about >> > >I hate to say it, but it sounds like it came for the Northwest somewhere. >They are severely lacking in herbal medicine due to a variety of political >reasons. It shows inthe clinical ability of thier teachers. >DAve I would take exception to Dave's comment. I don't know what political reasons he is alluding to but I believe that the herbal medicine supervisors at our school [located in the Pacific Northwest] are competent including those that hail from Michigan or other places outside greater China. Can he be elaborate as to what he is talking about? Dan Daniel Bensky, D.O. Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine 916 NE 65th Street, Suite B Seattle, WA 98115 206/517-4541 206/526-1932 [fax] dfbensky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2000 Report Share Posted July 24, 2000 In a message dated 7/24/00 2:02:40 AM, dfbensky writes: << I would take exception to Dave's comment. I don't know what political reasons he is alluding to but I believe that the herbal medicine supervisors at our school [located in the Pacific Northwest] are competent including those that hail from Michigan or other places outside greater China. Can he be elaborate as to what he is talking about? >> Dan's school IS the exception to my comment, and I hope my consideration of his school being so far above the other colleges in the NW that I didn't even think that anyone would put it in that category will satisfactorily clear any misconceptions on that front. His college is the exception in most ways when it comes to Oriental Medicine in this country, and I think that it is a feather in the cap to both the school and the ACAOM that it is accredited, since it is a school that works thinking out of the box and thrives there. This is not backpedaling. I just didn't consider that anyone would even think it was being referred to. Sorry Dan. Hail from Michigan? David Molony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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