Was deke kendall, now New Age

[Guest guest]

Bob Flaws wrote:

>>>That's the reason I am "throwing in" with Mercy College. Not only will

I be able to work with a more medically professionally oriented group

of students, but I will also be working with Western medical students,

interns, residents, and doctors. I will be lecturing to students and

practitioners of both medicines. My hope is that I can get this

program to include Chinese medical language translation courses in

their curriculum. Then I think they would really have the best of both

worlds.<<<

 

Bob,

It seems to me that the only way to have true state-of-the-art Chinese medical training here in the West is to emulate the Chinese model of a university based on a teaching hospital which integrates Eastern and Western approaches. That way students will be attending during the weekdays, like they do any other university, and will be forced to make time for the training as a priority in their schedules, not something they fit in at the edges of busy lives. Also, this would give us the credibility we need. The problem, as I see it, is that doctors in the West, even the most holistic-minded and well-versed in Chinese medical thought, tend to run home to their disease-based diagnosis paradigm. Because of that, any East-West collaboration in the US must be run by people whose paradigm is Eastern. Otherwise we will be constantly in danger of being eroded and swallowed up by disease diagnosis.

 

Unfortunately, this means that somebody like us needs to come up with a whole lot of money to pay for the scheme. Which is why I keep playing the powerball.

Joseph Garner

[Guest guest]

 

 

I very much agree with you. When I look at the articles in AT and even

the recent Alliance newsletter, I have to shake my head and wonder if

we are ever going to outgrow our New Age beginnings. Recently Blue

Poppy Press approached AT to ask them to sell some of our books. Of

all the new crop of books we submitted for consideration, they chose

the Channel Diverges book. They did not choose the psych book, Western

diseases book, or the diabetes book. Seems emblematic of where our

profession is at these days.

 

In any case, I think you are aware that I questioned in print a couple

of years ago whether we are going to be a flash in the pan because of

exactly this. While the schools can be said to be simply responding to

the demands of the marketplace, it is also possible for businesses

(i.e., the schools) to shape those demands and create new markets.

Certainly, as long as the schools keep doing what they're doing, we,

as a profession, will keep being what we currently are.

 

That's the reason I am " throwing in " with Mercy College. Not only will

I be able to work with a more medically professionally oriented group

of students, but I will also be working with Western medical students,

interns, residents, and doctors. I will be lecturing to students and

practitioners of both medicines. My hope is that I can get this

program to include Chinese medical language translation courses in

their curriculum. Then I think they would really have the best of both

worlds.

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

Joseph,

I agree 100%. Although, I haven't seen Mercy College 'in action' to

see how they are handling it. I hope at some point we will be able to

develop CM hospitals in the U.S.

 

In the meantime, the Mercy College is a nice model. As long as it is

one of several models available to the profession, not the only one.

 

 

On Wednesday, March 26, 2003, at 10:40 AM, acugrpaz wrote:

 

> Bob,

> It seems to me that the only way to have true state-of-the-art Chinese

> medical training here in the West is to emulate the Chinese model of a

> university based on a teaching hospital which integrates Eastern and

> Western approaches. That way students will be attending during the

> weekdays, like they do any other university, and will be forced to

> make time for the training as a priority in their schedules, not

> something they fit in at the edges of busy lives. Also, this would

> give us the credibility we need. The problem, as I see it, is that

> doctors in the West, even the most holistic-minded and well-versed in

> Chinese medical thought, tend to run home to their disease-based

> diagnosis paradigm. Because of that, any East-West collaboration in

> the US must be run by people whose paradigm is Eastern. Otherwise we

> will be constantly in danger of being eroded and swallowed up by

> disease diagnosis.

>

> Unfortunately, this means that somebody like us needs to come up with

> a whole lot of money to pay for the scheme. Which is why I keep

> playing the powerball.

> Joseph Garner

>

[Guest guest]

, " Bob Flaws "

<pemachophel2001> wrote:

>

>

> I very much agree with you. When I look at the articles in AT and even

> the recent Alliance newsletter, I have to shake my head and wonder if

> we are ever going to outgrow our New Age beginnings.

 

 

oy gevult.

 

 

My hope is that I can get this

> program to include Chinese medical language translation courses in

> their curriculum. Then I think they would really have the best of both

> worlds.

 

 

 

yes indeed.

 

[Guest guest]

, acugrpaz@a... wrote:

> Bob Flaws wrote:

That way students will be attending during the weekdays, like

> they do any other university, and will be forced to make time for the

> training as a priority in their schedules, not something they fit in

at the

> edges of busy lives.

 

 

I couldn't agree more with this. OCOM limits their students to 15

hours of outside employment maximum. If students need to work more,

they are typically not admitted because they almost always do quite

poorly in clinic even if they skate by in class. We are really

talking out both sides of our mouths if we insist what we do is

rigorous, yet allow it to be done while maintaining fulltime

employment and family responsibilities. I think many of you may know

that chinese med students in China were not allowed to date, marry,

have kids. I am not suggesting we go to that extreme. but if they

can't do it all, why do we think we can?

 

I just had a very poor showing from my students on a quiz in herbs 1.

Quite a few confided to me that they had been unable to study in the

past week due to stuff that came up. the problem with this excuse is

that they should be studying herbs many hours every week. All I hear

is how hard the subject is, yet very few actually putting in the

recommended study time. They admit this, so either they do not take

me seriously and or somehow thought this was a cakewalk. I have

clinical assistants who are angry at the school for not making it

clear how much herbology we need to study. Perhaps prospective

students should do more than just eat the hard sell from admission

recruiters and find out what TCM is really all about. If you end up

at a school that has a clearly laid out catalog, you only have

yourself to blame if you do not read it before enrolling. But of

course, the last thing an anti intellectual new ager would ever do is

read something so dry as one's school catalog. What other $40,000

purchase do people make without any research. But acupuncture is so

cool.... It really resonates with my spirit... The rest will all

fall into place as long as I follow my bliss.... and so it goes....