Prescription for Change: Can History Heal Medical Education’s Ailments

• In Event: Reclaiming the Past to Reimagine Education

Abstract

This paper critically examines the historical development of medical education and its broader influence on educational structures, highlighting how early reforms institutionalized positivist paradigms that continue to shape medical and general education today. Scientific standardization legitimized exclusionary practices, reinforcing socioeconomic stratification and eugenic ideologies in medical training. These reforms positioned physicians as elite knowledge authorities and served as a template for broader educational policies emphasizing efficiency, objectivity, and quantifiable assessment. This paper interrogates how medical education’s hierarchical and standardized structures function as mechanisms of social stratification. It explores the extent to which these models have been replicated in general education, perpetuating systemic inequities through rigid assessment frameworks, professional gatekeeping, and the privileging of empirical knowledge over alternative epistemologies. Tracing the legacy of medical education reform challenges the persistence of positivist paradigms and calls for a reevaluation of how educational institutions reinforce exclusivity, status hierarchies, and inequitable learning environments.

Authors

• Garrison Daly, Texas Christian University

• Priyanka Subash, Texas Christian University