For years I've been advocating that our middle school (junior high school) age youngsters can learn basic medical terminology if given the chance to do so! Why? It's very simple:
If your child[ren] can 'text message' family, friends, teachers, etc., on their cell phones, Blackberry, or via the Internet to communicate with each other by using (and understanding) abbreviations and acronyms, then they can learn medical terminology, which comprises BOTH abbreviations and acronyms! In a nutshell, our youngsters are using a form of language that is often overlooked as being a 'language' in its own way.
With that said, why aren't many of our Nation's public (and private) educational system making this a priority in their curriculum to teach and prepare these students early in life with the basic essentials about becoming a health care professional in the 21st Century?
With that said, why aren't many of our Nation's public (and private) educational system making this a priority in their curriculum to teach and prepare these students early in life with the basic essentials about becoming a health care professional in the 21st Century?
So, I decided to start my own classroom to show youngsters who attend middle school, junior high school, and of course, high school students, who aspire to become a health care professional (i.e., doctor, nurse, medical lab technician, medical [office] assistant, medical transcriber, etc.) in their adulthood to learn some basic elemental medical terminology, which will allow them to get a jump-start in understanding their chosen career path.
Granted, there will be some students who may not have a clue as to what they want to do in life upon graduating from high school, or college for that matter, but they can at least get a feel, or learn more, about becoming a health care professional in the 21st Century!
From my "1-parent-2-another parent" book series, I look forward to show you and your child how to learn and understand basic medical terminology (root words, prefixes, suffixes) by allowing them to think provocatively and independently, which is an invaluable asset to have and to hold in life, by using my book "Mom & Dad, I Want to Work in the Medical Field: Your Child Can Learn Medical Terminology Early in Life!" as an educational referencing tool.
To order this book, please go to: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/mom-dad-i-want-to-work-in-the-medical-field-your-child-can-learn-medical-terminology-early-in-life/7444328
WHY SHOULD YOUNGSTERS LEARN BASIC MEDICAL VOCABULARY SO EARLY?
I've become weary of hearing and reading about how poorly our Nation's public school systems are failing our youngsters, especially in poor and low-income areas located in large urban and rural areas, and most of whom dwell in these areas are Blacks, Hispanics, Native American descendants, and Caucasians (Whites), who have been labeled 'poor,' yet are treated as if they don't have a brain in their bodies. This is not acceptable, and it is unforgiveable!
Although I do fault a myriad of parents who do not take the time, nor find the time to assist the youths with their school work, I do, however, know that it's not entirely the parents fault in many instances. Multiple decades of 'self-hating' practices among "people-of-color" have deteriorated our society's thirst & hunger for knowledge due to overt and covert racism, classism, cronyism, and nepotism that allowed maligning practices by financially savvy individuals, and/or groups, who have sought to gain their wealth through the use of 'divide and conquer' tactics by initiating racism, classism, cronyism, and nepotism as tools to get rich off the backs of the poor across all racial and cultural lines, which have ultimately affected our students, for the most part, by not teaching them Who they are, and from Whence they came, particularly, but not exclusively, Black children. Thus, "truth-of-knowing-thyself" continues to be a taboo subject not taught in schools.
Our Nation's public school systems remains to be in the infancy stages of restructuring the standard curriculum of teaching that does not meet, nor answer, the criterias needed in order to help our young students receive a sense of who they are, why they're here, where they need to go, what needs to be done in order to improve self and others, how they got here in order to get where they're going, and when did they get here in order to know how to get back, in regard to fulfilling their purpose in life bestowed unto them by a Higher Power than themselves. Centuries of historical deception now has to be figured out by individuals who prefer not to acknowledge, and/or reveal such deception, but instead, to place a band-aid on a long held scar with a wound so deep that it wreaks with odor of infection.
With that said, I guess you're asking then why bother? And perhaps you're asking how can learning basic medical terminology, for example, can help our youngsters in a present mode of educational failings across the board? The answer is simple: WORDS! Words have meaning (ETYMOLOGY - the study of words). Put these different words together - it builds power. Hence, powerful words promote understanding and knowledge. Once you have acquired knowledge about something (or someone) early enough in your life travels, it allows you to gain wisdom through a maturation process of growing up, knowing more, showing what you've learned, and bestowing unto others what you've already learned!
And the understanding of history, science, math, sociology, geography, literature, penmanship, just to name a few, must be exercised to become well-balance, and whole.
Math
This is the 21st Century - we cannot afford to blame anyone for our short-comings, nor can we afford to allow anyone stop us from pursuing our purposeful goal. I know that our 21st Century youths can master anything they put their minds into regardless of nay-sayers, and dream-doom slayers. If being honest about anything, or anyone, is looked upon as being a detriment in our process of growth toward understanding who and what we are as a people, then we will continue to carry out an injustice to our young, and to ourselves, to the point of not doing anything, which leaves the ultimate choice toward becoming non-existent in this world. And that would be a travesty, historically, academically, vocationally, socially, culturally, financially, and spiritually.
IT'S TIME TO GET YOUR MED'CABULARY ON!
Thank you.
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READY TO BEGIN?
Ordinarily, whenever you're new to learning anything about the human body (organism) in the field of medicine, usually the study of cells and tissues (Cytology) is presented first. In this case, we will learn about that at a later time. Instead, we will start with the approach of learning basic elements you are perhaps familiar with in your every day living, such as Colors; Directions; Size; Positions - you know . . . the good stuff!
Like I mentioned earlier: Words have meaning. Every school student have learned about root words, prefixes, and suffixes in school. You've also learned about 'Past tense' versus 'Present tense' when dealing with words in accordance to what you are speaking about at that time.
Let's take a simple word like PLAY. To play is to do something. It is an "act of doing something fun,' or an 'act of doing something that is not consider to be fun.'
Root word: Play - 'an act of doing something fun' or 'an act of doing something that is not fun.'
Prefix: Re - 'to do again' or 'to repeat.'
Combined: Replay - to 'play again' or 'to do an act again.'
Suffix: ed - meaning 'past tense' - 'already happened.'
Suffix: ing - meaning 'present tense' - 'it is happening now.'
EXAMPLE: Replayed - 'did again' - I replayed my music on my tape recorder until I fell asleep.
EXAMPLE: Replaying - 'doing again' - I am replaying my music on my tape recorder until I fall asleep.
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BASIC PRONUNCIATION
Ahhh, the power of phonetics. Do you enjoy watching "Wheel of Fortune?" Consonants and vowels = words, phrases, and titles. Well, as you know, consonants are letters without the vowels of 'a,' 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u.' And whenever you are dealing with language (i.e., English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese) you will find that there are different ways to pronouce certain letters and vowels.
In the book "Mom & Dad, I Want to Work in the Medical Field: . . .," on page 19, read what it says about Basic Pronunciation. As you can see, there are long and short vowel sounds in medical terminology words. You will also find that the English language is not perfect. Soft and hard sounding letters are also factors in learning medical terminology. For example:
chemical - the "ch" has a hard 'k' sound (kem-eh-cul)
dystrophy - the 'dys' is pronounce 'dis' - (dis-tro-fee)
euphoria - the 'eu' has an 'u' sound - (u-for-ee-ah)
gnat - the 'gn' has a 'n' sound - (nat)
pharmacy - the 'ph' has a 'f' sound - (far-mah-cee)
pneumonia - the 'pn' has a 'n' sound (nu-mo-nee-ah)
pseudo - the 'ps' has a 's' sound (su-doe)
ptosis - the 'pt' has a hard 't' sound (to-sis)
rheumatic - the 'rh' has a 'r' sound, and the 'c' has a hard 'k' sound (ru-ma-tik)
xiphoid - the 'xi' has a buzzing 'z' sound (zip-foyd)
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Remember how I talked about in the book as learning medical terminology is a skill, and not just vocabulary? Well, take the word "dystrophy" for example. The prefix "dys" means painful, or abnormal. The root word "trophy" generally means growth, or feeling.
Here are two examples to remember the dystrophy for a long time to come:
dys - means painful, or abnormal. Whenever a person ignores what you say or do, or act as if you did not exist, that person is "dissing you," or has "disrespected" you. And that act of cruelty or disrespect toward you can be painful, or can make you feel as if you are abnormal.
trophy - means feeling, or growth. Let's say you ran a 400 meter relay race, and you won the race, or let's say you won a contest of any kind. Usually, you are given a 'trophy' for your accomplishment. That 'trophy' triggers off a 'feeling' of good inside of you, or you may feel as if you had achieved some level of 'growth' in your accomplishment.
So, when you think of the word "dystrophy," think about what I said above. You can come up with something that you can relate to when dealing with remembrance of words.
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Colors, Sizes, Directions, Positions, etc. - next time.
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