WFC Philosophy Meeting Produces New International Consensus
Leaders from 34 chiropractic schools worldwide met November 10-13, 2000 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the World Federation of Chiropractic’s conference on Philosophy in Chiropractic Education. Impressively, and importantly, they reached a consensus on many key aspects concerning education and philosophy in chiropractic education and practice.
Delegations from all 17 North American colleges, from the oldest (Palmer) and the largest (Life) to the smallest and newest (Bridgeport and Colorado), were joined by representatives from schools in 11 other countries Australia, Brazil (2), Canada (2), Denmark, France, Italy, Japan (2), Korea, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom (4).
Others present represented proposed schools in Costa Rica and Mexico, accrediting agencies, examining boards and licensing authorities. Leaders of professional associations addressing the meeting included Dr Jim Mertz, ACA President, Dr Sid Williams, ICA Past President, Dr Tim St Denis, President, Canadian Chiropractic Association, Dr Laurie Tassell, President, Chiropractors’ Association of Australia, and Dr Michael van den Bos, President, Chiropractors’ Association of South Africa.
The World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) called this meeting, co-sponsored by the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) and the US National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE), to seek consensus on the core beliefs and basic tenets of the philosophy of chiropractic, and how to teach them to chiropractic students. Discord in our philosophical base, said WFC President, Dr Bruce Vaughan from Hong Kong as he opened the meeting, underlies the discord in clinical approaches and political organisation in the profession and must be resolved.
As could be seen from this meeting, many new schools are opening throughout the world. Will they create a unified and stronger chiropractic profession or, like osteopathy, will they divide, fragment and weaken the profession?
If we can agree on the basic philosophy of chiropractic as it has evolved, then there will be less reason for division, discord and factionalism, said Vaughan. On behalf of the WFC, I call for harmony in our profession. In other opening remarks, Dr Ken Padgett, ACC President, called for acceptance of the 1996 ACC Paradigm of Chiropractic, agreed to by all North American college presidents.
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