Well said Mel! I thought your post was very appropriate and
constructive.
If I make a generalization or two and open a slightly different can of
worms. The philosophy of universities in the USA is no longer on
disciplined education/research but on customer satisfaction. Instructors
are urged to do everything to make the student happy. In my opinion
universities have lost their moral compass and responsibility to the
public and the profession that degrees actually mean what they used too.
Education is openly a business and students are buying a product. As
long as the customer is happy, then the school is happy. Adhering to
rigorous academic standards are only OK as long as the customer doesn't
complain.
The byproducts of this philosophy is the types of student requests on
the internet that your post was addressing and the disappointing passing
scores on the PT and PTA licensing examinations. Another byproduct is
the tendency to make excuses or to take personal offense to professional
discussions and differing opinions in this forum and many others.
Universities are only partly to blame. Freshman are arriving on campus
without the skills they should have learned in high school. Grades are
inflated because "we don't want to hurt their self esteem." At some
point the "dumbing down" of education and the social promotions has to
stop or it will further undermine society. I would ask the profession.
Would you want to be treated by a PT with great self esteem but poor
clinical skills?
This post is intended to be thought provoking and encourage professional
dialog. PTs tend to have thin skins. If we cannot discuss controversial
issues with candor and objectively then the entire profession looses.
How many more intellectually stimulating postings would there be, and
how many more responses to those postings would there be, if every
controversial opinion wasn't taken as a personal affront and responded
to in a personal rather than a professional manner.
Collegially yours,
Douglas M. White, PT, OCS
Milton, Mass. USA
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