What ‘elitism’ really means for veterinary school accreditation
Decades-old formula presented as the only model for success.
If you want to understand how elitist the viewpoint is of academic critics of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA’s) Council on Education (COE), read the September 9, 2014, words of former University of Pennsylvania veterinary school dean Robert Marshak, DVM, from an ACVIM list-serve email:
COE has been accrediting veterinary schools that do not meet the COE’s published standards. The standards also have been weakened gradually, apparently in order to justify, retrospectively and prospectively, the accreditation of substandard schools. Substandard schools, charging very high tuitions, are producing hundreds of minimally educated entry-level graduates, a situation that bodes ill for the future of our educational system and, subsequently, for our profession and the society we serve. Further, the substandard schools contribute nothing to our discovery-based medical profession through research, the identification of and cure for new diseases, the development of new procedures, the provision of referral centers and diagnostic services, the development of clinical specialties, nor continuing education.