Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 9 text:

This statement appearing opposite Dr. Bucher’s would be expected to reflect student opinion regarding the operation which he directs. As editor of this book. I must speak for more than myself, yet since education is the individual experience of assimilating concepts and knowledge. I may express a variation of my colleagues' beliefs. These four years have rushed past. Still, there remains within the confident demeanor of the graduate that thread of anxiety and uncertainty which was so apparent when he sat in his first lecture. Me knows that the acquisition of his degree is but one step. The final analysis of a preparation may be found only after there has been application. Accordingly, no absolute judgement of this institution’s efficacy can be stated here; we evaluate only by supposition. The student knows only that which he has lived. The most fundamental questions about education, however. are these: (1) has the student gained a firm foundation in the basic concepts of his profession; (2) has the pattern been well established for continual self-education. The first question lies under the immediate control and supervision of the institution and is its primary responsibility. The assumption is that these foundations have been established. At least as a Junior Intern. the student has concrete knowledge that he has applied these principles and that he has questioned other’s knowledge of them. He is aware of the total inter-relationships of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry' and pathology in the posterior, penetrating, peptic ulcer and he is able to visualize the effect of the patient’s total personality upon his disease while realizing that surgery may be imminent. A perspective has developed. Although the problem of education of fundamental knowledge has most probably been solved adequately, the direction for continued self-education may be eventually more significant. This area seems to need more emphasis. Dr. Thomas Durant's stature as a dynamic, thinking physician and the challenging, inquisitive atmosphere of St. Christopher's Hospital have given the student a concept of the ultimate in self-education but these factors are not dominant. Hopefully this type of inspiration for knowledge would replace the study-to-pass-the-exam type which exists today. The student knows that he has progressed. He has contributed to medical management. He would continue to learn. He would be grateful to Temple University School of Medicine for his Doctorate of Medicine. 5 DONALD J. RITT

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ROBERT M. BUCHER. DEAN MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF I960 Although you entered medical school prior to my assuming office. I shall look upon this as my first graduating class as dean and shall reserve a special place for you in my memory in years to come. Just as every group has a distinct personality, your class could probably be described as a transition class. It has been your lot to be enrolled during a period of rapid growth of the Temple University Medical Center. You have used the new clinic and hospital buildings and know that more physical plant expansion is planned. You have been but the second class to participate in the major experimental senior curriculum, have benefited from the experiences of a year ago and yet have supplied additional constructive criticism. Through this it is our belief and hope that you are well prepared to take your place in the medical profession. You have seen a tremendous growth of research in your institution with greater than a 100 per cent increase in research activity since your freshman year. Your members have also engaged in this research more than have members of previous classes. It is regrettable only that financial and space limitations did not permit all of you to have this enriching experience. Going beyond our own ivory tower, one realizes that the classes of 1960 in all schools have been spending their formative years during an unusual period in the history of medicine. This is a time of critical self-evaluation and long range planning. A growing population, demands for more medical care, an increased awareness of the importance of advancing the frontiers of knowledge, and the increasing costs of improved medical care are all problems of intense interest. The solutions to them arc not yet evident, and it will fall to your group to add to the constructive thinking in these areas. It is unlikely that many graduating classes in the past have looked forward to such challenging futures. There arc large numbers of young people just entering their educational years— larger numbers than this country has ever seen. These new students must be guided and instructed and from your ranks must come many of the new medical educators as well as tomorrow’s leaders in medical service anti research. It is my full expectation that your achievement will justify the effort and confidence of the faculty and that you will be credit to your medical school. 4 ROBERT M. BUCHER, M.D.

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WILLIAM N. PARKINSON. M.D. William NT. Parkinson. Dean of the medical school for thirty years and for the past year Vice-President of Temple University in charge of the medical school and the hospital, has been the medical school—the admission policy, the admission committee, the director of policy, the initiator of the senior student internship program, the force behind the construction of the new pavilion which l ears his name, the single individual most responsible for the clevelop-men of the Temple Medical Center as a nationally outstanding institution. Dr. Parkinson has been an austere leader. It has been said of him that if he has nothing nasty to say he will say nothing. Yet one has the feeling that behind the grim facade lies a grin and a belly laugh. The grin because of the accomplishment, the laugh because of those who shrink from Parky in terror. The cartoon which appears on this page is to indicate that facet of Dr. Parkinson which usually is hidden. It would be impossible to have Dr. Parkinson state in a few hundred words his position on medical education. This total book, rather, tells more of the entire story. Since he has given the heads of the various departments their roles in education, it is more fitting that they tell of their concepts while Parky remains here, silent, yet by his very presence a significant indication that this education exists and that it exists as it does, to a great extent, because of him. 6 THE EDITORS