Guest guest Posted July 6, 2004 Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 Will, Many of the suggestions I've made are in response to inadequacies that I've witnessed personally, and that were communicated to me by both faculty and students at various schools. Dr. Cheung and I would often discuss each article at length, and I always respect his wisdom and suggestions. After publishing each of the articles I cited, I received numerous comments from additional individuals confirming my observations and conclusions, many of them specifically asking me to keep their communications private and confidential. One of the original purposes of publishing these articles was to refine and clarify our own methods, learning from mistakes that others have made, and to receive feedback from our own graduates and advisory board. It is not my job to point out specific defects at specific schools - that is what the accrediting agencies are presumably being paid to do; my main concern was and is how to improve our own operations, and we have our own means of receiving helpful suggestions from people we trust and whose philosophy is consistent with ours. After writing these policy statements in the form of email communications among ourselves, several on our advisory board commented that there was no reason to keep them secret, so I decided to expand them into articles for public consumption. One article caught the the attention of a UC Berkeley professor, who invited me to expand the article for presentation at a Berkeley symposium. Our email list, a voluntary subscription list, goes out only to people who request it - anyone can . I know there are TCM administrators on the list, as I recognize their names, but I do not wish to force it onto people who may not be receptive. For various reasons, I prefer to keep my observations general. Individuals who share my concerns will pay attention, those that don't are free to ignore what I write. I would be skeptical that my physical presence at a conference or policy meeting would do much to change the course of TCM institutions, and I really don't care to get involved in mainstream TCM politics. Years ago I was invited to participate in a policy discussion regarding the TCM doctorate degree; I declined to participate, although I believe the person who invited me had the best intentions and I respect them personally. The reason is that I perceived that the course of future policy had already been determined, and I did not wish to have my participation perceived by anyone as an endorsement. At that time, and also now, I believe the bachelor's and master's levels programs to suffer from serious shortcomings, and simply adding on one more layer to a structure that is unsound to begin with, is no way to establish a credible graduate degree program. If one feels that the points I make are valid and agrees with the conclusions of Gatto and Iserbyt regarding the role of American accrediting agencies in the decline of public education, then one would logically conclude that the American system of education, from grade school to university, is beyond repair, and that the only viable option is to step aside and create independent options. That is exactly what I have attempted for the past 15 years. In our early years, we received a barrage of negative comments from many in the TCM profession, warning the we were being divisive that we needed to " support " the profession (presumably by keeping our gripes private). Instead, I decided that the mainstream TCM profession was headed in a direction I did not like, and rather than squawk about it and make noisy protests at conferences and policy meetings, I simply headed in another. Regarding peer review, many scientists are now complaining that scientific peer review has transformed into a de facto science by majority vote of a politically powerful elite. The most creative and promising ideas are often shelved in favor of unimaginative reworkings and minor modifications of tired old ideas, in many cases, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong. (Just as many vitamin deficiency illnesses were originally believed to be of an infectious nature, and such ideas were difficult to discard because of the vested interests among existing medical scientists' careers.) In the days of Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe, invididual noblemen frequently sponsored scientists, and such noblemen were free to dispense their largesse on sound ideas or complete whimsy at their own discretion. To avoid the ridicule of their peers, they generally attempted to endow projects and scientists who were likely to contribute knowledge or technology of lasting value. Now, we have a stifling mediocrity that has crept into all levels of science and higher education, and, recently, on top of this, an equally stifling political correctness tinged with fear and loathing. Hardly a conducive environment for a scholar or creative thinker. So I hope you can respect my desire to remain free of political encumbrances, committees, and bureaucracies. I'm a reclusive person by nature, and it requires a major incentive for me to venture outside of Montana. Individuals who perceive themselves to be on the same wavelength as I am are welcome to stop in and visit sometime, and share ideas about education and where the world is headed. ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org > WMorris116 >Re: Digest Number 2057 > >Hi Roger - > >> However, I will not pay tens of thousands of dollars, or more, to have the >> very agencies whose inadequacies I have documented evaluate my school. > >I have a few questions and some comments. I briefly read the pieces you cite >and cannot find the documented inadequacies. There are however, many useful >recommendations that are part of the general body of wisdom in professional >training programs. Have you taken ACAOM's 14 essential requirements and discussed >the material defects? Also, have you sent these pieces directly to the >Commission for comment? Along that line, I haven't heard you testify at any of >ACAOM's public hearings since 1998, did I miss it? > >You are very fortunate to work with Dr Cheung, he has been an influence in >the development of Chinese herbal medicine in this country. As far as I can tell >- the recommendations you make are sound as far as program development is >concerned - but this would be an individual institution's choice since the >college develops the programs. > >A brief word for accreditation - peer review is the primary activity that >occurs in a site visit. I have been on both sides of the fence for this process >and have found it deeply rewarding. The development of the standards that the >peer review process evaluates is a consensus building effort that occurs with >input from all key stake holders. And - most importantly, it is optional. > >Best - Will > > >Will Morris, L.Ac., OMD, MSEd >Dean of Educational Advancement >Emperor's College >Secretary AAOM > ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 6, 2004 Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 , rw2@r... wrote: > > Will, > > Many of the suggestions I've made are in response to inadequacies that I've witnessed personally, and that were communicated to me by both faculty and students at various schools. Does any long term good ever come from compromise or does all long term good come from sticking to one's guns? Examples of either?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 7, 2004 Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 While I may generally agree with Roger on much of what he says, I can see no advantage to being extreme in either direction, nor to being indecisive. As a result, I applaud Roger for going the American way, and I can see what makes his program great. I also applaud those who work within the confines of the OM academe as it exists today to make it the best it can be within the restraints of politics and academic politics, which incidentally I do not feel are nearly as confined as conventional academic politics due to both its young age and its paucity of income and the lack of a dustbin of tenure. Graduates of today are significantly better trained than even 10 years ago, and if we look at a curve of our growth, I feel confident that within 10-15 years (depending on politics) our doctorate in OM will rival or surpass any in the world, with uniformity of excellence following later via the marketplace. David Molony In a message dated 7/6/04 10:22:18 PM, writes: > , rw2@r... wrote: > > > > Will, > > > > Many of the suggestions I've made are in response to inadequacies > that I've witnessed personally, and that were communicated to me by > both faculty and students at various schools. > > Does any long term good ever come from compromise or does all long > term good come from sticking to one's guns? Examples of either?? > > > > > > Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including > board approved continuing education classes, an annual conference and a free > discussion forum in Chinese Herbal Medicine. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 7, 2004 Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 It's difficult to make generalities, but as I've pointed out before, if one believes that current historical forces are such that society is disintegrating into increasingly polarized factions, then even well-intentioned people can only hold back the disintegration temporarily. When I criticize the accreditation process, I am not necessarily holding individual administrators responsible for this. They are merely players in a larger picture. John Taylor Gatto ( " The Dumbing Down of American Education " ) tenaciously attempted to work within the system for 30 years - a truly heroic tour de force - has concluded that his participation in the system has only delayed the recognition that the system was irreparably broken. Will's point about the AAOM recognizing the same problems I describe illustrates that many people can label the problems, but the problems remain, in spite of government commissions to study them, faculty committee meetings, and non-profit agencies funding attempts to remedy them. If dysfunctional behavior is systemic and institutionalized, as Gatto claims, compromise will only delay this recognition. And according to the historian Toynbee, it will also delay an effective response, which is to isolate oneself from the problem and go off in a different direction. To achieve this, our own admissions criteria are such that most Americans no longer qualify. We require that potential students demonstrate their seriousness by approximately 600 hours of self-study and passing an objective, computer-based exam that they must turn in to qualify for continued training at our school. So far the majority of program partipants who are willing to do this are foreigners, many of whom are physicians, and homeschooled people, who have not yet had their minds destroyed. (I've had several homeschooled students in my program, in the 18-25 years age group, who could hold their own intellectual weight with the MDs in the course.) I simply got tired of dealing with students who whined about the homework requirements and whined about their grades. I had one student who would turn in answers to homework problems that were mostly copied quotes directly from my book. In many cases, these quotes were not relevant to the context of the problem, and this student's analytical abilities were non-existent. When I tried to gently point this our, the student became verbally abusive and began a vendatta of hate mail. Other students would complain that they " did their time " , and in spite of failing exams and incomplete homework, demanded their certificates of completion, some threatening physical violence. I no longer tolerate this, and if it means that most American students will no longer qualify, sorry, but that's the way it is. If foreigners become more competent in science, engineering, medicine, and in TCM, so be it. We have only ourselves, collectively, as a nation, to blame. ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org > " " < >Re: accreditation, peer review > > , rw2@r... wrote: >> >> Will, >> >> Many of the suggestions I've made are in response to inadequacies >that I've witnessed personally, and that were communicated to me by >both faculty and students at various schools. > >Does any long term good ever come from compromise or does all long >term good come from sticking to one's guns? Examples of either?? > >Todd ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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