I think most chiropractors are burned out by the time they graduate from chiropractic school! At best there are a few live coals among the ashes. The only thing that can fan those coals into a roaring flame is the fresh, strong breeze of the chiropractic philosophy and the fuel, people with whom to share that philosophy. Unfortunately, if you are not constantly into the philosophy, those coals will go out before you have enough fuel to get the fire going.
: )
The question is, how many people come out of chiropractic school with a philosophy?
Everyone has a philosophy. Whether it is thought out, logical, and tested or just a parroting of whatever everyone else in our culture says and does is a whole other story.
Stamatis, I think it is understood that we are speaking of a CHIROPRACTIC philosophy but your statement is still apropos. Every chiropractor has a chiropractic philosophy. There are many chiropractic philosophies. But your point is the key. Most of them are not “thought out, logical and tested”.
Good question Rick! You would think that those coming out of school with no philosophy would have no chance but some of them investigate the philosophy either in school or shortly after graduating and have the zeal and enthusiasm of a new “convert”. They are hungry for more and keep learning. On the other hand some who graduate from schools that gave them a philosophical background are hardened and either think they have learned it all or “don’t want any more philosophy shoved down my throat”. So in a sense it’s not how much you had in school, it’s if and/or how big the fire is burning in your heart when you get out.
As a current Chiropractic student, and a former Montessori teacher, I have a particular outlook on such things. As a Montessori teacher I learned how vitally (!) important “environment” is to the learner. Environment in this case means….the physical surroundings as well as many fine tunings in the physical surroundings that encourage learning and melding (my word). Montessori education DEMANDS that the teacher be the leader. A quiet leader that allows the student to explore and learn independently as well as guided by the teacher. It is the teacher that is actually RESPONSIBLE for the students attention, focus, enthusiasm and joy of learning. It is the Montessori teacher’s RESPONSIBILITY to provide what is appropriate for the student to joyfully learn. Now, of course it is the students RESPONSIBILITY to do a whole lot of things too. I am not looking at placing blame anywhere here to quickly cut to that concern. Nor do I forget we are talking about high functioning adults in a doctorate program. However, I strongly believe that Philosophy must be taught in the Chiropractic schools…. of course. But I would further say that it is the responsibility of the Chiropractic College as the learning environment to place the fostering and nurturing of Chiropractic Philosophy as an important, even critical ongoing goal and concern. Once a student completes their coursework in C. Philosophy the student should not be left alone to sink into that frustrated, dulled state of mind that occurs from too much materialistic/medical studying. What a waste! What a loss! A student comes into Chiropractic College enthused and ready to learn and comes out….with their brain over worked and under appreciating the unbelievable resource that Chiropractic Philosophy is to …. the WORLD. If the colleges were truly looking at the disconnect, they would learn that the teaching and continual nurturing of the Chiropractic Philosophical mindset could EASILY create that VIBRANT, DEDICATED, ON-FIRE generation of Chiropractors… that is required to change the world. And certainly to gain a reputation of producing such VIBRANT, VITALISTIC Chiropractors would only attract more and more students. It’s a WIN-WIN situation! It’s time to put the extended effort into nurturing Chiropractic Philosophy throughout the Chiropractic Program to create balance with the Science and Art.
d. schoreder,
Thank you, thank you and thank you again. You are bringing tears to my eyes and I am deeply moved by your post. YOU are the future of this “Sacred Trust” for posterity.
I am a great advocate of Montessori. Sara and I home-schooled our children for their elementary education creating such environment.
I was very fortunate when I graduated in 1977 to be a co-founder and instructor of ADIO INSTITUTE (1978-1996) which graduated 403 DCs. That was for me an AMAZING environment which was nurturing and constantly challenging in area of chiropractic philosophy. To be surrounded by Reggie and Joe Strauss EVERY day and once in a while by Joe D, Marty Brown, Dave Blessing, Bill Oliver, Joe Flesia, Guy Riekeman, Thom Gelardi and other great ones was compelling and always moving me DEEPER into the philosophy.
Perhaps it’s time to consider encouraging your fellow students to subscribe to this blog and help us create a “virtual” environment suitable for continuous learning as we could go DEEPER and DEEPER into the chiropractic philosophy with joy and SPIZZERINCTUM!!!!
May be we could even consider having a “virtual” weekly classes online where we could gather those who could continue to teach and go DEEPER into the philosophy as webinar sessions. Then we could have a HUGE yearly online gathering where we could organize fest-TIC LYCEUM!!!!
Thoughts anyone?
Hey Claude, How come 12 men changed the world (minus Judas Iscariot, plus Paul) and Reggie, you and I and 403 graduates have not made a dent in the profession’s, let alone the world’s thinking! Kinda humbling. But more important it goes to the point that chiropractic education will not be the answer. Thank you for the blog’s endorsement. I know we have personally discussed this, that the internet may be the answer to the failure of the schools in challenging the outside-in viewpoint and giving chiropractors the Big Idea. Unfortunately, the internet has its good and bad (eg. Bible teaching and pornography). Hopefully, this blog with the help of you and others will be able to separate the wheat of chiropractic from the chaff. I like your idea of weekly classes and appreciate yours and other’s regular input on this blog.
Dr. Lessard,
I am honored! I’ve been hoping to find a way to talk about Montessori and Chiropractic for some time. But then I’ve been developing my thoughts as well.
I must tell you that my son heard your talk at Sherman’s Lyceum 4 years ago and at that point asked me what he needed to do to take prerequisites for Chiropractic! It was a wonderful moment…and now we are at Sherman together!!! Amazing isn’t it? LOL, I say that all the time and think of you!
I will answer you further possibly tomorrow… right now I must put my daughter to bed đŸ™‚ . good night~
Yes! I agree, I will encourage fellow students to join here. With Embers, the FB page I created…. I kinda “put” students on it w/out asking LOL because I wanted them to see what we were doing and then if they didn’t like it they could get off. We also had quite a few ask to join and all those from other countries and states asked to join. For the most part there is little conversation except between a few. I think of course they are bogged down w studies and just don’t go on FB for the most part.
The option to do some type of virtual online class is exciting….
Our on campus Philosophy Club; New Beginnings is interested in that as well. I will bring it up with the Club. I do believe there are many options to Spizzinate… we just have to put it in front of the students in a way that they can partake. The coursework as you know can put the student mind into a cave.
There are other students interested as well. Perhaps a stable number in all of the schools. We just have to find them and nurture them to nurture others. It’s amazing what a little positive Spizz of encouragement can do….(that came out naturally). Never underestimate what a little bit of Love and Spizz will do to get a student going!!!
So how come ALL the students in your school (where I’m asuming the philosophy is taught) do not come out with the same “vibrant, dedicated, on-fire” enthusiasm that you have? Check that, how come most don’t, no make that so few do! Actually, hardly any come out as vibrant, vitalistic chiropractors. Are you putting too much emphasis on the education environment and is that outside-in? There is no doubt that chiropractic educational environment is a factor in a student becoming the chiropractor you desire but it is only a factor, not the cause. Reggie once made the statement that the vast majority of mixers in the profession (at that time) learned chiropractic under BJ Palmer. I tend to think that it is the world and life viewpoint (ADIO v. OI) that the ADULT student comes into school with more than the philosophy that is taught.
From a practical standpoint, we cannot force the schools to teach the philosophy. From a realistic standpoint, the schools (all of them) are getting worse in teaching the chiropractic mindset. In fact, many in our profession believe that the idea of a TIC education is a lost cause and our only hope is reaching those with an ADIO viewpoint after chiropractic school, igniting the fire of ADIO mind that rejects the outside-in,materialistic viewpoint of the world and their chiropractic education.
So many things I can say to your questions Dr. Joe! Where to begin?
First I would say; never, ever, ever give up hope! If we loose hope in teaching the students in school…. it’s just not an option I believe. Those who understand this Philosophy must hold it in their hearts and minds in spite of the contrary-ness (B.J. invented words so why can’t I?) of the world. We should not allow the contrary-ness of the world to control that which is good!
As to your first question; I go to Sherman! Secondly, I am an older student and have done a whole lot of growing before hand. However, I also waited many years for my boys to grow up and ached to get myself to Sherman. During that time I learned and taught Montessori and do feel that it can be applied to Chiropractic College. Environment is not outside-in because as we live within the environment it becomes a part of our being. Therefore, we must expose ourselves to that which is conducive to understanding ADIO. ADIO is everywhere in the natural world. The environment of a school should reflect that and not hinder it. And environment of Spizz for example and the Joy of Life…. is an extension of the 33 Principles. Concrete block walls alone…. really doesn’t do a lot to reflect Innate Intelligence. It does take a Master to create such an environment (of ADIO and Spzz) but it is possible.
B.J. Palmer infused the environment with electricity I’m pretty sure! He had Spizzerinctum exploding all over the place. Yet, it was all controlled within his method, technique, research, questioning mind….etc. It was Vibrant! It had to be because he was constantly, endlessly creating! Thus, he passed it on to others. This is my conjecture… is it true?
The environment in a Chiropractic College should reflect a thirst for knowledge, understanding, art, science, philosophy and creativity. How many schools do this? Right now they reflect the serious burden placed upon a student in the form of stuffing materialistic thoughts and facts into their minds only for the purpose of spitting it out on pieces of paper that are supposed to evaluate their capacity as future Chiropractors. Yet the shear magnitude of information is not an easy thing to gain. Setting that problem aside, the least we can do is provide a Philosophically encouraging setting. And provide a little more time to perfect the Art of Vertebral Correction before being set out into the world would be nice too.
In a Montessori way of thinking…. the child/student is continually absorbing information. This child/student does not need to express what they absorb initially. It may take time for it to manifest. However… the child/student must be offered many opportunities to absorb and learn and in time they too will come to express what they have absorbed. It happens all the time…. we all express what we are exposed to. So my belief is that along with the classes in Philosophy, opportunities must be continually be created and offered for development. We are actually working on that at Sherman now. Well… I am anyway! LOL, and it’s working I believe! One little step at a time.
I created the Embers Straight Chiropractic Club that is off-campus and the Face Book page as well. It is my goal w the FB page to reach out to other schools and go world wide. We have in fact! We have members in Germany, Sweden, England, California, New Jersey as well as our local students (and perhaps a few more places).
But you see, when I came on campus for the first time 15.5 years ago I could feel the Spizz… I could feel what happened there… and I was immediately enamored! I knew at that point even before I had ever heard of a Green Book. So, I guess that’s just the way I am.
And… as I have waited so long to be here….I’m loosing Chiropractic to the OI-ers over my dead body!
Dr Joe,
Dr. Decken at Sherman does a great job of Philosophy and he is well loved. I just believe that the student is buried under so many medical studies that opportunities to hear speakers, participate in activities that are Philosophy related is critical and must occur on a regular basis.
So much money is put into obedience to CCE by Colleges that Philosophy is neglected. It is forgotten and replaced with scrambling to keep up with the rules. No wonder we all get burnt out!