Dr Vasquez's reflections on education

​

Introduction to this [new 2018 October] page: This page will be updated with DrV's ideas and articles on "education" and related topics such as the state of academic integrity/corruption, "the myth of the Adjunct Professor", the exploitation of teachers, and the clinical and sociopolitical implications of these and related events and conditions. Mostly, this page will likely evolve into an assortment of maxims and insights that either stand alone or link to larger and more developed ideas, such as in the form of articles.

1. The myth of the Adjunct Professor: I have held the title of "Adjunct Professor" at 5 different colleges/universities in 5 different professional graduate programs (also one very brief stint teaching undergraduate Nutrition) teaching courses including Orthopedics, Rheumatology, Radiology, Psychology, Evidence-Based Nutrition, Clinical Laboratory Medicine, and Clinical Diagnosis and Management. The "myth of the Adjunct Professor" is an essay that I have thought about for several years and will probably write in 2019; however my next article on education will likely be on the topic of academic corruption. In 2016 I published an essay and related blog as hyperlinked below: 

   1. Blog: Ending the Exploitation of Experts Begins with Educating Them about Employment, Empowerment, and Options. February 14, 2016​

   2. Article: Ending the Exploitation of Experts (Teachers and Professors) Begins with Educating Them about Employment, Curbing Enthusiasm to Preserve Enthusiasm. Int J Hum Nutr Funct Med 2016

2. Observation: What I notice more and more in [social media] conversations is that people have increasingly greater difficulty transitioning from words to concepts to implications.

   • In a recent discussion thread among fellow medical physicians, after I posted 3 PDF scientific articles on a topic that had been requested by a group member, the conversation never advanced past the title of the document, let alone the title of the article, let alone the content of the document, let alone its implications...

   • Watching people flap around unintelligibly like fish out of water is tragicomedic when, in contrast, they should as adults be able to read something and translate the words into concepts and then into implications (which they can either accept, reject, or improve / use partially, etc). When people can't get past the headline, then they cannot truly evaluate the truth and utility of what is being communicated. 

3. Blog: Edfuscation in biomedical research and education | May 28, 2016 | Dr Alex Vasquez:​ On 28 May 2016, I coined and defined the terms "edfuscate" and "edfuscation" to denote a type of education (formal information transmittal) that is contaminated with the intent to confuse, generally for the sake of creating some type of dependency, whether that is subjugating the reader/attendee/student to the pseudoknowledge of the writer/teacher, maintaining the status quo via use of thought-terminating clichés, or artificially creating a need for a service or product:

   1. Education: 1.the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. 2. an enlightening experience. Traditionally, the goal of education has been to liberate people, to empower them. 

   2. Obfuscation: 1. to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially intentionally, 2. to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy. 3. to make obscure or unclear . 4. to darken. The goal of obfuscation is to confuse people. 

   3. Edfuscation: 1. To confuse or intellectually hinder someone under the guise and auspice of education. The goal of edfuscation is to fool people into thinking they are receiving information/education while they are being confused, distracted, or numbed with inaccurate, misleading, or nonsensical information. 

4. ...

​

This page will be progressively expanded and developed.

​

Notable links/essays/books and videos related to education are linked below: