For the Sake of Clarity & with no disrespect to Ken Rose

[Guest guest]

Dear Ken,

Of course I meant no harm or disrespect to you with my response to

your post. In fact you've hit the nail on the head with respect to

the issues of miscommunication & deception. My own information on the

subject came from a form letter from the interim president of NESA,

Evelyn Fowler. The bulk of my post is the work of another collegue

here in MA who has been active on the MAC MOM issue. My intent was to

elicit the opinions of other herbalists & to clarify my own point of

view. Admitedly I do not have all of the facts so your input is

appreciated.

 

Sincerely

Aris Skaliotis

 

, " dragon90405 " <yulong@m...> wrote:

> Mr. Skaliotis,

>

> > I do not know what your agenda is but I will assume that since

you

> > are an administrator of a college you probablt know more about

the

> > sunject than most.

>

> You can read my agenda in past posts here

> as well as our published work. I think

> the two most concise and complete statements

> can be found in the book Who Can Ride the Dragon?

> and in the even more concise statement in the

> journal I edit, Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental

> Medicine.

>

> In responding to your post, I wasn't actually

> seeking to forward my agenda. I was just noticing

> that the pattern of deception that you perhaps

> very correctly complain about is not limited

> to the administrators of a single institution.

>

> In my post I presented as much as I HONESTLY know

> > of the subject. If you would be up front of your intentions when

> you

> > respond with the post below I would not take any issue.

>

> I was as up front as I know how to be.

> I was not impugning your intentions

> or questioning your honesty. Sorry if

> I implied either.

> >

> > There are many alums of NESA that put in their time as have

recent

> > and soon to be grads. You may not agree with our point of view.

But

> > try to explain how a Master of Acupuncture degree compares to a

> > Master Of Oreintal Medicine espescially whe OM includes Chinese

> > medicinals specifically in the training?

>

> If I understand the situation correctly, and I

> have to say that your report about it was the

> first I'd heard of it, then I see it as yet

> another example in which for lack of clear

> definitions, people suffer in this field.

>

> I am quite sympathetic to your plight.

>

> And what I meant to say was that it seems

> to me, admittedly far removed from the

> scene, to be part of a larger pattern of

> deception. That's what made me think of

> the work of the people at disinfo.

>

> As it happens, I'll be in Boston at

> the end of this month. If you'd like

> to meet and give me a chance to understand

> the situation there more fully, I'd

> be glad to see if we can find a

> mutually agreeable time and place.

>

> Contact me off the list and we'll

> make the arrangements.

>

> And good luck!

>

> Ken

>

> >

> > Aris Skaliotis

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > , " dragon90405 " <yulong@m...> wrote:

> > > The post about the degree controversy

> > > reminded me that I've been wanting to

> > > share a web resource with the members

> > > of this group. Check out <http://www.disinfo.com>

> > > if you don't already know it. And

> > > there is a fascinating book called

> > > You Are Being Lied To put out by

> > > the same folks who report about

> > > disinformation abroad in the land.

> > >

> > > The mechanisms whereby individuals

> > > become trapped in consentual realities,

> > > such as being denied the use of certain

> > > letters of the alphabet in identifying

> > > oneself professionally, do not begin with

> > > the machinations of school administrations.

> > >

> > > I think as a profession we need to be

> > > vigilant concerning the stream of

> > > data that we process, both in terms

> > > of input and output.

> > >

> > > Ken

[Guest guest]

Aris,

 

> Of course I meant no harm or disrespect to you with my response to

> your post. In fact you've hit the nail on the head with respect to

> the issues of miscommunication & deception. My own information on

the

> subject came from a form letter from the interim president of NESA,

> Evelyn Fowler. The bulk of my post is the work of another collegue

> here in MA who has been active on the MAC MOM issue. My intent was

to

> elicit the opinions of other herbalists & to clarify my own point

of

> view. Admitedly I do not have all of the facts so your input is

> appreciated.

>

Somehow I sensed from the beginning

that you meant me no harm or disrespect.

I understood your original post as

an expression of not only the facts

of the matter but of your feelings

about them. Since I, too, feely

strongly about the state of education

in the subject, it was not difficult

for me to empathize with what you

describe as your plight.

 

I'll just reiterate that my point

in response was not meant as a commentary

on the specific situation you are

dealing with. I was suggesting that

it is a manifestation of a far more

widespread condition, which extends

far beyond the sphere of Chinese

medical education throughout the whole

culture.

 

I'll also pass on a piece of advice

that my tai4 ji2 teacher recently

gave to me, saying, " No position

is so disadvantageous that it lacks

its own advantage. " Tai4 ji2 or yin1

yang2 was developed to facilitate the

implementation of this approach. It

should certainly be followed in all

aspects of Chinese medicine, including

the educational circles.

 

Good luck!

 

Ken