A Comparison Between Oriental and American Science Education

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Mycopathologia 153: 13, 2001.

2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.1

A comparison between Oriental & American science education

Guest commentary

Glenn S. Bulmer

University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK, USA;Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, P.R. China

What do you consider to be the most important thing

in your life? Im sure that many will initially say

money or other physical possessions. After further

thought, you might begin to think about things such

as love, power, position in life, family, etc. But, for

me, and many others in science, the most important

thing in the world is ideas. Allow me to give you anexample.

When I think about fungus diseases, the most ex-

citing things for me to discuss with colleagues are the

great unanswered questions in the field. Here are a few

examples:

What is the ecology of the etiologic agent of

penicilliosis?

Why is this disease not found north of the Yangtze

River in China and more commonly in northern

Thailand than in southern Thailand?

Why do some people think that many cases of

tuberculosis in the Orient are misdiagnosed whenin fact these patients have the fungus disease

histoplasmosis?

As medical educators, we know that we cannot discuss

these subjects until our conversant has a good back-

ground in basic medical mycology. And I will be the

first to admit that a lot of the basic information is very

This paper is a synopsis of lectures given by Professor Bulmer

to medical school faculty at several medical schools in the PR China.

Professor Bulmer taught Medical Mycology (human fungus dis-

eases) at the Medical School (OUHSC) in Oklahoma City for 28

years. During that time he made almost yearly teaching visits to

numerous medical schools in the Orient (19681987). In 1988, he

took early retirement from OUHSC and moved to the Orient (Ma-

nila, Philippines). He has since taught medical faculty in almost all

developing countries in the Orient, holding faculty appointments in

5 different medical universities.

He has been a WHO consultant and served as Vice Presid-

ent of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology

(ISHAM), specializing in medical education in developing coun-

tries.Published in 2002.

dull and time consuming to learn. But we must learn

the basics before we can talk about the exciting stuff.

The process that I am discussing was illustrated to us

many years ago in the following poem:

Ideas are expressed in pictures

and pictures are explained in words.

Clinging to the words,

we fail to understand the pictures.

Clinging to the pictures,

we fail to understand the ideas.

Having understood the pictures,

we can forget the words.

Having understood the ideas,

we can forget the picture.

In this poem we see that ideas are the most valu-

able thing in the world to this philosopher. Also,

he describes the process of how we develop ideas.

To me, this is particularly important because it an-

swers a question that I am asked most frequently as

a caucasian Professor who has spent half of his life

teaching American medical personnel, and the other

half living and teaching in most countries in the Ori-

ent. The question that I am asked most frequently

by Oriental medical professors, is: What is the big

difference between Oriental and American medical

education? From my diverse background, with feet

in two worlds, the answer is that the Oriental forte is

having the most highly developed memory system of

any peoples in the world. On the other hand, Amer-icans have terrible memories but have the outstanding

traits of problem solving, creativity and never being

satisfied with the way things currently exist.

If you look again at the above poem, you will

note that the pinnacle of the authors perception is

that ideas should be ones ultimate goal. Considering


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how I just compared Americans with Orientals, one

would suspect that this poem had an American author.

Not true! This poem was written approximately 1800

years ago by a Chinese philosopher known as Wang

Pi, a Taoist thinker. It appears to me that over the

years the thoughts of Wang Pi have become lost in

the Orient. Instead, his philosophy that ideas are thehighest form of thought has been replaced by the art of

memorizing at least in the Orient. I make this sug-

gestion because there is little doubt in many peoples

minds that the greatest force in science, medical re-

search and medicine in general, has been attained by

the Americans. Now, I am certain that some of you

will say, perhaps in defense of your system, that Amer-

icans have become so great in science because their

country is so wealthy. I suggest to you that this is not

true. In fact, I could name several relatively wealthy

countries (one of them being in the Orient) that have

spent enormous sums of money on science but have

little to show in results. Thus, to me, you cant buy

what Americans have brought to science, i.e., their

creativity.

Referring to Wang Pis poem, allow me to explain

how I feel his philosophy not only applies to educa-

tional methods but how we, in the Orient, can perhaps

learn once again from our intellectual forefathers. In-

deed, we must learn how to stand on their shoulders to

see a little further.

Everyone knows what I am talking about when I

use the word pencil. Pretend for a moment that when

you hear the word pencil you dont know what it

is. So you look it up in the dictionary and discoverthat it is a slender tube of wood, metal, plastic, etc.

containing a strip or core of graphite, a solid coloring

material. What we have done is to use many words to

describe a pencil and now I can assume that you know

what a pencil is. Now imagine that I have a pencil

in my hand and I am showing it you. Hereafter I no

longer need to use many words to describe it. Here-

after I only have to use the word pencil, and you

know to what I am referring. But, perhaps unknown to

you, something else has occurred. Once again, take a

look at the pencil I am showing to you. Now, I put this

pencil behind my back, or in my pocket or in a desk

drawer. As soon as I say the word pencil again, you

can see the pencil that I was just showing to you. Yes,

now you have a picture of that pencil in your mind.

You can even describe to me many of the details of

that pencil, e.g., what color it was, how long it was or

if it had an eraser on the end. The picture of that pencil

is now implanted in your mind and it may remain there

for years. As you think about this pencil, you no longer

have to remember the words that I used to describe it.

No, in fact, your mind pushes you further without me

telling you, i.e., you begin to create ideas on how you

can use this object. Initially, you may realize you can

write a story with the pencil. To me, the amazing thing

about writingwith a pencil is that you can express yourthoughts to someone who may not be alive for another

five hundred years. Or conversely, someone who lived

hundreds of years ago can talk to you through writing

with the pencil. I hope you begin to see that this picture

of a pencil is encouraging you to create ideas, perhaps

some that are unique.

Now let us relate this concept to my field, namely,

human fungus diseases. Let me suggest to you the

word Penicillium. Let us pretend for a moment that

this is an entirely new word to you. So you reach for

a dictionary of fungi and read the definition of this

organism. If this definition is meaningful you should

begin to picture this fungus in your mind. Perhaps, to

assist you in the beginning, I might want to show the

fungus to you under the microscope or show you a 35

mm slide of a Penicillium species while describing to

you (with many words) the unique, identifying aspects

of this microorganism. Let us assume that we meet

again in a week and I say only one word: Penicil-

lium. I know that you will see this organism again in

your mind. In fact, this was done to me over 40 years

ago and to this day, I still see that fungus in my mind.

As humans, we do more than just look at a pic-

ture. There is something stimulating about visualizing

objects. Something, especially as scientists and edu-cators, that forces the mind to delve deeper. From my

perspective, it makes me wonder if this fungus causes

any human diseases and, if so, where do these dis-

eases exist and do the patients always die from them?

And how can the patient be treated and cured of the

disease?

I hope you see now that we are where Wang

Pi wants us to be. We have gone far beyond just

memorizing words and seeing a picture. We are util-

izing the central source of creativity, developing and

sorting ideas that may lead to new discoveries and

understanding.

As I look at the Orient, I see a new Ming Dyn-

asty on the horizon. In order to fulfill this dream, I

believe that we should pay more attention to ideas

such as those expressed by Wang Pi. As I grow older

I find it becomes increasingly difficult to know where

were going unless we know from where we came. In

other words, our clever ancestors may have already


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presented to us many of the tools that we need for a

successful future. We need only to recognize and grasp

them to move forward with our creativity.

Address for correspondence: Professor Emeritus, University of

Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Pro-

fessor (Hon.), The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing,

Peoples Republic of China.E-mail: [email protected]

Reprint requests to: 68 Beverly Hills Ave., Beverly Hills Subd.,

Taytay, Rizal, 1920, Phillipines


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A Comparison Between Oriental and American Science Education

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