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The problem with your argument is that Sherman only receives one treatment and, if I am remembering correctly, does not have any symptoms that TCM may or may not be able to cure. That would be like a pain-free person taking aspirin and then complaining that it doesn't work because they don't feel any different.

To argue "that it can somehow relieve pain is silly at best" is a gross misstatement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture...

The efficacy of the treatment has not been proven or disproven. I think the most telling quotation from the article is from an NIH panel:

"the data in support of acupuncture are as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies"

This does not unequivocally approved the technique, but it clearly shows that the treatment is not "silly at best." In the name of integrity in discourse, please refrain from such blanket statements. I'm sure such poor conduct stands in opposition to the liberal arts education that you've enrolled yourself in at CMC.

1) Just because there are college electives in bowling doesn't mean that there ought to be electives in Chinese traditional medicine. That's faulty reasoning. Take elementary logic 101.

2) And what's your point? Does somehow the scientific method not work in China? (By the way, the class is taught in the U.S. and China, but I didn't include that in the post.) I think it's pretty outrageous to think that just because China has a tradition of silly science that we ought to give it as an elective to pre-Meds.

3) Your third point is silly. I don't need to learn about creationism to know about evolution. I don't need to learn about flat landers to know the Earth is round. That's another faulty analysis. You can know something has never been scientifically confirmed despite study after study and advise your patients against it. And just because something is popular doesn't make it a good idea.

4) Generally when someone says something does one thing and then doesn't do it, we call that fraud. We can enforce against fraud through the legal system. TCM is fraud.

Chuck Johnson is a student at Claremont McKenna College. Feel free to contact him.

First of all, colleges teach electives in bowling, so the only measure of whether a class can be taught as an elective is, "will students take and get something out of this?" Whether that something is deep enlightenment or a fun semester is really anyone's guess.

Second, this is a class taught in China, where this type of medicine has a long and respectable history (hence the name). It's as much a cultural class as anything else, I would guess, and absolutely relevant in that setting. Whether it works or not is kind of beside the point if people believe it does, and the Chinese obviously do.

Which brings me to point three: because of the growing popularity of alternative medicine in the US, any practicing doctor is going to encounter patient questions regarding it. If he/she knows nothing about it, how can that doctor adequately advise his patients? ESPECIALLY if it really is bunk, that's exactly the kind of thing doctors need to know.

And finally, you don't like it, you don't have to take it. Doesn't mean others wouldn't find it fun.