It’s always interesting to play the “What if?” game. In fact, novels have been written on the subject. What if the South had won the battle of Gettysburg? In reviewing my notes for a program I am putting together on the history of the chiropractic profession, and knowing where the straight movement is today, I began to think about the idea. What if Sherman College had decided to pursue CCE accreditation in 1977? (They actually did for a short time but stopped because of a philosophical reason and alternately pursued accreditation from SCASA). What if they had had CCE approval for the past 33 years? We might assume they would be better off today since they did eventually pursue CCE approval. They believe that they will be better off 33 years from now than they are today or at least no worse off.
Would ADIO (later Penn Straight) have come into existence? If Sherman was a CCE school then there would not have been a need. ADIO was an important part of my life for 17 years, so I am very interested in that part of the “what if history.” Since Reggie Gold was the great moving force behind the formation of ADIO, I called him to get his opinion. He said what I thought he would say. There would not have been an ADIO. The second school was started so an accrediting agency could be formed, needing at least two schools with a straight philosophy. I suppose that every graduate of ADIO, mixer or straight, who is in practice today, can be thankful that Sherman took the course of action that they did. Most ADIO graduates would never have gone to chiropractic school if there had been no ADIO. Most students were there because of its location in the Northeast. There would have been no SCASA and Sherman College would have been alone as a straight school. They may not have even had the name Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic.
I would suggest that pretty much everything that is going on at the school today would have been going on at that time. They, more than likely, would have made significant curriculum changes twenty years ago and would not have had to “choose” to make them recently. Would their philosophy have been the same as it is today? I think that would have depended on the complexion of the faculty. Would the people who have taught there for the past 20+ years have stayed around to teach or would they have abandoned the school? It is difficult to stay on faculty unless you and the school have a similar vision and that is the real issue. There is no doubt that the accrediting agency plays an important part in establishing the school’s vision. They technically should not, but they do. None of the schools that were straight prior to the CCE have gotten any more straight since the CCE was founded and most have become less straight as time went on (if there is such a thing as “less straight”). Of course, there are dedicated straight chiropractors at many CCE schools, but most of them feel like they are bailing out a sinking ship with a thimble.
We will probably never know where Sherman would be today if they had followed through on CCE. The next 5 or 10 years may give us a hint but we will never know for sure. I like to think that the school would still be graduating straight chiropractors. After all, there are mixing schools in existence today that still graduate some straight chiropractors. That is something to give us all encouragement. Sure, it would be nice to graduate many straight chiropractors rather than some, but it has not worked out that way. However, those few straights from mixing schools remind us that regardless of which way Sherman ends up, there are still those that will desire to practice straight chiropractic. The task of those of us interested in seeing that happen is to make sure there is a program, information and organizations that students can be involved with that will give them the philosophy, the direction, and the tools to follow that desire. If so, and that is a big if, chiropractic will not die.
Thank you for discussing the history of Sherman College of Chiropractic. Our mission is still to be the leader in bringing straight chiropractic to the world. We still focus on the correction of vertebral subluxations, and we are happy to see our alumni come back for a fresh adjustment in philosophy at Lyceum.
It’s so very sad that Sherman changed its name from Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic to what it is now. It reminds me of
when Penn Straight dropped “straight” from their name. We all know what happened to them, hopfully the same won’t happen to Sherman.
What if? The other day I was contemplating the possible fate of a patient who dropped out of care at my office. Would they realize in 10 or 20 years, when the likely consequences of discontinuing my care found them degenerative, sick and unhealthy, that they blundered in not choosing to continue care? I doubt they would make the connection, but what if WE were held legally responsible for their situation? Suppose the world was aware that not having regular chiropractic care lead to degenerative changes and symptoms? What if a lawyer asked a person suffering with chronic disabling (preventable) degenerative changes “why aren’t you under chiropractic care?” “Who was your last chiropractor and why aren’t you still under his or her care?” What if the chiropractor was sued and lost because the patient claimed they didn’t know that leaving those asymptomatic subluxations untreated led to their disability (back surgery, pain, neurological condition, etc…)? Sued because we did not inform the patient of the likely consequences on not having a lifetime of regular chiropractic care? I know this smacks of “I told you so” but it felt good to think about it this way. What do you think about it?
Interesting post Bill. I think your scenerio is highly unlikely (that we could ever be legally responsible) but I think we should consider the moral responsibilty and see to it that we do everythng in our power to make sure every PM understands our objective and the potential ramifications of not following through with lifetime chiropractic care. Does our office bespeak lifetime care? Does our orientation explain it? Do the signs and posters in the office emahasize it? Do our pamphlets? Does the educational material we send them home with? Can we say when they leave the office, “I’ve done everything I could to get them to understand the ‘Big Idea’ of my approach to chiropractic.”
There are a number of other “what ifs” but it’s after midnight and I’ve got a 9AM til 9PM day tomorrow. Thanks for making me think.