On general education for medical students

With the deepening of globalization, education also assumes the responsibility of cultivating talents with comprehensive development and a strong sense of innovation. To meet such demands, general education should be reinforced and rectify the existing abuse of preference towards professional knowledge and skills.

• •    The connotation of General Education

  General education first originated from Western liberal education. But the systematic elaboration of it was in the book General Education in a Free Society published in the year 1945. After its publication, the book received much attention and has been commonly called the Red Book. The book holds that the general education refers to the part of a student’s education that looks first of all to his life as a responsible human. In addition, the aim of the general education is pointed out in the book, which is to foster “whole human” with four abilities___ to think effectively,

  to communicate thought, to make relevant judgments and to discriminate among values [2, p.51]. The book believes that humanities, social values and natural sciences should be included in the curriculum of general education. However, researches on general education in China start relatively late. Li Manli systematically studies the connotation, history, implementation and rationality of general education in the year 1999. And as can be seen that general education aims at cultivating students’ problem-solving ability, the attitude of life and moralities, which are all necessary in today’s society, through rational and perceptual balanced development.

• •    The Necessity of General Education for Medical Students

  Global minimum essential requirements in medical education (GMER) was established by the Institute for International Medical Education (IIME), which was established in 1999 and consisted of members from all over the world. The GMER includes 7 domains, namely, professional values, attitudes, behavior and ethics, scientific foundation of medicine, communication skills, clinical skills, population health and health system, management of information, critical thinking and research, among which, some need to be realized through the implementation of general education [1].

• •    General Education Guides Medical Students to Achieve Self-awareness

Courses in the field of humanities and social sciences guide students to behave themselves and understand the society; and courses like psychology and behavioral science help medical students to understand themselves, realize themselves and then improve themselves.

• •    General Education Guide Medical Students to Perfect Themselves

Personality cultivation should be one of the core content of the medical education since medical work involves the reflection on the meaning of life and the life judgment, which makes the personality cultivation become particularly important. Courses like literature, history, philosophy can enhance students’ spiritual life, which is an important part of the personality cultivation. In addition to classroom teaching, low-grade students should also participate in social activities such as intern work or volunteer work in the hospital. Such work may help to make students become “patient-centered”. [3].

• •    Construct Medical Students’ Spiritual Life

The humanity education can also be called the science education or emotional education.

The emphasis of medical education lies in the cultivation of personality. And the significance of humanity education lies in the respect of patients and the respect of life.

• •    The Methods of the Reforms of General Education

• •    Establish the Status of General Education.

In order to cultivate medical talents with allround development, medical colleges should focus on both the professional education and the general education. Thus, an independent agency specialized in the overall planning of general education should be set up. Only in this way can general education be better implemented.

• •    Develop a Comprehensive Set of Courses of General Education

Taking the requirements of general education as well as its own characteristics into consideration, medical colleges should try to integrate the medical courses with the general education. Thus, the courses of humanities and social sciences included in the general education should introduce not only its own theories and the methodologies, but also the latest research in both medicine and social sciences [4].

Presently, many medical colleges from different countries and regions have set up a comprehensive general education curriculum. For instance, Taipei Medical College have set up comprehensive general education courses like medicine and art, medical ethnics, an introduction to medical law, etc. The course “Medicine and Art” focus on talking about the relationship between medicine and art as well as their mutual influences. Such courses are conducive to the cultivation of students’ temperament.

• •    Reform the Methods of General Education

In order to improve the teaching effects of general education, a variety of teaching methods should be adopted based on the teaching contents and the characteristics of the students. In a comprehensive general education curriculum, group discussions and case study should be adopted. And teachers with medical background should be encouraged to involve in general education. Presently, in many countries, the general education courses are co-chaired by teachers from different backgrounds and the methods of discussions and case-study are usually adopted. For instance, the course “medicine, literature and art” in the medical college of University of Leicester is chaired by the teachers of arts or other related fields with the help from teachers with clinical medicine background. We should improve the teaching effects of such courses according to the circumstances of our country and our school [5].

• •    Create the Atmosphere of General Education

Campus atmosphere is important for the implementation of the general education. And the nice atmosphere belongs to the categories of hidden curriculum, which has a subtle effect on the cultivation of students’ general education. The hidden curriculum includes three aspects: First, the informative lectures in the field of humanity and social sciences could broaden students’ horizon and increase their knowledge; second, through various extra-curriculum activities, students could acquire the knowledge and ability which could not be obtained in the evident curriculum; finally, strengthen the construction of the campus environment and develop a campus atmosphere which is conducive to the implementation of general education. In this way, students may get an overall development [6].