Dragging, Pushing

'Integrated program' and 'Problem-based learning' seemed to be the in-thing to mention in school these days - the reason: our school failed the previous TMAC (Taiwan Medical Education Assessment Committee) evaluation, and now the school is doing everything and anything, including jeopardizing our learning experiences, to pass it - so as not to be ordered to close down.
It's a question of fire for warmth and burning up the house really, but as students we care only about the quality of education we receive. Being pampered from the very beginning (TCU is not really a university in terms of lectures and teaching methods), class reaction was radical to say the least. Powerpoints flew past our eyes, 3 seconds per slide, while some others chose to skip slides - "you'll learn this soon enough," "this is not really relevant," etc.
The consequence - we flip through books so thick they need cutting in half for better transportation. And some stupid fellas like me, need more than one book to truly understand. The library's collection of textbooks had all gone into hideout, leaving the ancient editions (I got a 2nd edition; the latest print is 4th) behind.
On top of that, we are bound to preparations for the cremation and memorial service of our silent mentor this weekend. Of that we really did our best despite the limited time and immense academic pressure. I am glad to be of assistance to the class in their choir during the service, while the short stage show they put up was simple, touching and memorable.

A snapshot of the show, observing a minute's solemnity before every session of anatomy. I prefer to intepret it as "Oh merciful God, please wake the professors up soon and really teach us something in medical school."

In between preparations for the service, some, including stupid fellas like me, would take time for short discussions on pathology.

On one end the school is pushing us to be move forward in face of the in-thing in medical education. Many would argue that PBL initiates the student's own learning abilities and promotes self-learning and people-oriented skills. On the other hand, do medical students have more time for such? Do we, with less and less sleep and leisure time, sacrifice even our time to revisions and learning reinforcements with 'soft skills' learning and imagining lectures? Is the mostly conservative school prepared for such a drastic change at short notice? Do we really have the leadership for this?
I do not know.