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Comparing Curricular Reform in Medical Schools and the Ship of Theseus: Insights Regarding Philosophical and Ideological Characteristics

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Abstract

Most of the curricular reforms are either imprecise, lacking appropriate contextualization or keen in “lifting” the solution from one context and fixing it in some other context. The greatest obstacle for curricular reform is something intrinsic [philosophical and ideological] and related to the general disposition of educators to resist the change and love status quo. We would like to put forth that viewing reforms under these lenses is the ultimate requirement and when winds of reform begin to blow in curriculum, definitely it would become unstoppable and one reform would give birth to the necessity for other reform. This commentary intends to discuss the under emphasized intricacies related to curricular reform by comparing it with analogy of “The Ship of Theseus.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India

    Dinesh Kumar V

  2. Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India

    Aneesh Basheer

Authors
  1. Dinesh Kumar V
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  2. Aneesh Basheer
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Correspondence to Dinesh Kumar V.

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Kumar V, D., Basheer, A. Comparing Curricular Reform in Medical Schools and the Ship of Theseus: Insights Regarding Philosophical and Ideological Characteristics. Med.Sci.Educ. 29, 599–602 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00726-0

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