Chapter 25 Curriculum for pre-med

The impact of modern medical schools on liberal arts education in this country has been devastating over the past decade.It is not an exaggeration to say that.The admissions policies of medical schools are a source of trouble.If something is not done to change this as soon as possible, then all the fun of going to college will be ruined.Not only for the growing majority of undergraduates who live to be doctors, but for everyone else, for all students, and for all teachers. Medical schools used to say they wanted their candidates to be as broadly educated as possible.And they really did.The first two years of medical school are devoted almost entirely to basic biomedical science, and almost all students who enter have their first glimpse of science up close during those years.Three chemistry courses, a physics course, and some kind of biology are all that is required of a college student.Medical school introductory materials are full of rhetoric, encouraging students to major in non-science subjects such as history, English, and philosophy.But not many people do this anymore.Nearly all recent generations of premed students majored in chemistry or biology.They were allowed to dabble in other disciplines anyway.

There is still talk in the dean's office of the medical school about the need for a common culture background, but no one really thinks so, and pre-med students really don't believe it.They focus on science. They are madly focused on science, and they live for scores.If there were some liberal arts courses for them to take that would not hinder their placement in the class, they would line up to take them.But apart from science, it is impossible for them to get into any other subjects and obtain a solid foundation.So-called sociology has become a very popular stand-in for traditional learning.

Top medical students poison the air of liberal arts colleges.It's not the student's fault.They didn't have to be a bunch of bad guys to start with.They act with conviction that if they didn't, they wouldn't get into medical school. I have a suggestion. To implement this suggestion, all deans of medical schools need to issue the following circular: From now on, any candidate who marks himself as a pre-med and distinguishes himself from other students by his elective courses, his file will be Included in the third tier in the three-tier tier. Membership in the Pre-Med Association was itself grounds for rejection by medical schools.Any school that claims to have a "pre-med program," or is run by people who call themselves "pre-med counselors," will be rejected by medical schools.

Let's talk about scores and grade rankings.It is obviously impossible to ignore these as admission criteria, but what should be paid attention to is the total score of each subject.Moreover, since medical school schedules are, or should be, so limited to the biomedical sciences, greater attention should be paid to students' pre-admission grades in other, non-science disciplines in order to ensure the mental preparation required to be a physician. breadth. Thus, if there is an entrance examination for medical school, the science section should be as short as possible and should have the least weight.The knowledge of literature and linguistics should be the main test questions, and the weight should be the most important; history should be tested, and the test should be very strict.

It is better to once and for all cancel the entrance examination for medical colleges and rely entirely on the judgment of university teachers. If there were some central, core subjects, common to all college schedules, by which a college student could be assessed for his degree of freedom of mind, his tenacity and determination, his inherent ability to understand human beings, and his understanding of the human condition With compassion, it can be done.To this end, I propose to restore ancient Greek as the keystone of undergraduate teaching.The loss of Homer and Attic Greek from American college life is one of the disasters of the century.Restoring it would quickly make up for the demoralizing effect on modern thought of generations reading fragmented Greek classics in translation.The ability to read Homer's language carefully, and to feel the beauty of its poetry, can serve as a severe test of the qualities of mind and character required of a physician.

If everyone had to master Greek, then college students with medical school aspirations would be placed on the same starting line as others, blurring their identity as a special group.It's good for everyone.Moreover, the current depressing trend of taking special courses among pre-law and even pre-business students on college campuses can perhaps be stopped sooner before it causes more damage. Latin should also be restored, but if you have learned it in middle school, then it will be exempted.If Horace had been digested before college, Latin would stop there.But the subject of Greek is really suitable for the minds of college students.

English, history, at least two foreign languages ​​and literature, and philosophy should all be at the top of the list, second only to classical as basic requirements.Candidates for medical school should be advised that grades in these courses will carry more weight than in any other subject. Candidates should know that if they go to the local community hospital to do volunteer work during the summer vacation, as ward assistants or laboratory assistants, they may not necessarily be blindsided by this, but it will not help them either. Finally, colleges should also have more of a say in who goes to medical school.If they know--and they should--the typical bright and respectable student, their judgment should carry the most weight for admission.If they decide not to use class rank as a criterion for recommending candidates, then their evaluation should stand up.

The first and most obvious beneficiaries of this new policy will be college students themselves.No longer will there be "pre-med" students -- anywhere they can be recognized as a unanimous gang -- the most odious gang to eat the heart of a university.Secondly, it is the university teachers who benefit.They will regain control of the fate of their own curriculum, for better or for worse.Thirdly, but perhaps most beneficially, will be the faculty of basic research in medical schools, who will again be confronted with classrooms filled with students thirsty for knowledge and ready to contribute to new and unfamiliar areas of knowledge. Instead of being shocked and excited, no longer poisoned by preconceived notions of why something is irrelevant.These ideas paralyze the minds of today's medical students who are so fed up with science that they want to start working as psychiatrists in the first three months of their first year.

The ultimate beneficiary will be society.We can look forward to a new generation of doctors who know as much as anyone, who understand life and how people have been living their lives as well as anyone in colleges and universities.On the rocky bed of knowledge about our civilization, medical students may build solid medical edifices, but that rocky bed will always stand, holding everything upright.