Chiropractors are still trying to compare chiropractic education with medical education despite the fact that it is like comparing apples with oranges. All our efforts do is strengthen the misconception that chiropractic is an alternative to medicine, and in most situations, we come off looking like a second-rate alternative. A recent article in Dynamic Chiropractor (4/7/97) reported that the AMA is mounting an effort to belittle the qualifications of chiropractors. Along side that article on the front page of the same issue was an article about a joint ICA/ACA “Public Awareness Alliance.” It described the effort that will be required to let the public know that we are as good as medical doctors are and that our education is equivalent to theirs, as if that is going to gain us acceptance and bring patients into our offices. Let’s get serious. I would venture to say that less than 10% of the people who read this article know what the education of an undertaker is. Is that what keeps you from going to one? Of course not! What keeps you from going is that you have no need for one. Further, should a need arise, are you going to care what the mortician’s qualifications are? When will we learn that competing with medicine is a no-win situation?
There is one more thought to consider. A professional education should have more applicable and practical teaching than a liberal education which may have more superfluous education. On that basis, one would question whether chiropractic education is professional at all. Most students feel they have to take post-graduate technique courses in order to adjust patients. Of course, for many, that may not be the practical application of a chiropractic education inasmuch as a number of chiropractors do not actually adjust people. Further, despite all our efforts to bolster education, chiropractic diagnosis courses are still woefully inadequate compared to those in medical education. We are quick to point out to people that we get more hours in anatomy than do our medical cousins but does that mean that our education is superior? On the contrary, apparently the medics think that that much anatomy is not of practical use and hence not professional. If we assume then that a medical education is professional (and we must since we are forever trying to measure up to it), then our teaching more anatomy makes our education less professional than theirs. In this case, more is less. Following that line of thinking, the most professional chiropractic education one could receive would be entirely of a practical and applicable nature. Interestingly, while our education has increased over the years, it appears to have gotten less professional.