Posted on 09/07/2018 8:23:08 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
Senior medical student Giselle Lynch has plenty of accomplishments to list when she applies for a coveted spot in an ophthalmology residency program this fall.
But one box she won't be able to check when she submits her application is one of the highest academic awards medical students can receive, election to the honor society Alpha Omega Alpha.
It's not because she didn't excel. It's because her medical school, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, put a moratorium on student nominations because it determined the selection process discriminates against students of color.
The award is open to the top 25 percent of a medical school's graduating class and can be a valuable career boost, making students more competitive for desirable residencies and jobs.
Icahn administrators say the disparities in the selection process reflect deeper issues of racial inequality in medical education.
"AOA perpetuates systems that are deeply flawed," says Dr. David Muller, the dean for medical education at Icahn. "We can't justify putting people who are historically at a disadvantage at an even greater disadvantage. It just doesn't seem fair to dangle in front of our students an honorific that we know people are not equally eligible for."
Enlarge this image "AOA is an award of student excellence," says Lynch, who led student efforts at Icahn to fight racial inequality at the school. "What was the argument that was being perpetuated about us if we're not being included?" Gabriela Bhaskar for NPR Over the past five years, around 3 percent of students chosen for the distinction at Icahn were from a racial background that is underrepresented in medicine, which includes blacks and Latinos. In that same period, about 18 percent to 20 percent of each graduating class at Icahn came from those groups.
The school made the change after Lynch led a group of fellow students in an effort to fight inequality at Icahn. The students collected data on how many students from underrepresented minorities were nominated to the honor society at Icahn and presented it in a series of meetings with school leadership last year.
Lynch, who is black, recalls one particularly moving meeting when they showed photographs of Icahn's past AOA students — and black and Latino faces were conspicuously sparse.
"Where are we? We're nowhere here," says Lynch, remembering her reaction. "AOA is an award of student excellence. What was the argument that was being perpetuated about us if we're not being included?"
Announced in May of this year, the decision at Icahn was a controversial one, because many students and faculty fear that not participating in the award puts Icahn students at a disadvantage when competing for slots in residency programs.
After Charlottesville, A Doctor Reflects On Hateful Patients And His Own Biases SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS After Charlottesville, A Doctor Reflects On Hateful Patients And His Own Biases The honor society has existed since 1902 and is a sought-after line on the résumés of medical students across the country. Membership can help students secure training in competitive specialties and is a predictor of success in academic medicine.
Membership is generally open to the top 25 percent of medical students in a graduating class, as determined by their grades and scores on standardized tests, but only about 16 percent makes it in. Each medical school has its own criteria for making final selections including qualities like leadership or professionalism.
Sorry Miss Lynch but folks admitted to medical school thanks to affirmative action are likely to not be as accomplished in medical school as those admitted NOT using affirmative action.
Remember this when you see a med school diploma:
“...around 3 percent of students chosen for the distinction at Icahn were from a racial background that is underrepresented in medicine, which includes blacks and Latinos. In that same period, about 18 percent to 20 percent of each graduating class at Icahn came from those groups.”
What about the awarding of medical school degrees? Does that discriminate between people who can pass the courses, and those who can?
“black and Latino faces were conspicuously sparse”
Sparse? Not absent? And how can one tell a Latino from face? Can’t always.
And, how about Asian faces? Were they sparse?
Meanwhile, as usual, no worries about oriental or Indian students and their passing/award rates.
“around 3 percent of students chosen for the distinction at Icahn were from a racial background that is underrepresented in medicine”
Underrepresented is key here.
There are plenty of non-Caucasian minorities I’m sure. They just aren’t “underrepresented, so it doesn’t count.
May these people all end up one day in an emergency room with their lives in the hands of affirmative action physicians......
Okay, now do NBA players
The graduating classes of 18-20% may only be that way because of affirmative action. If admissions were completely blind and based on objective standards only, it could very well be 3%
Affirmative action is racism.
Blacks are destroying civil society in a very slow way
It used to be that if you were confronted by an M.D. who was of an “under represented group”, you could count on them having earned their degree. Now, you must assume an M.D. of such a group was given their degree without having earned it.
This is the sort of thing that motivates Walter E. Williams.
What I saw in med school was some minority students being coddled beyond belief. Flunk courses repeatedly and still allowed to stay. It was a joke.
One of my friends who was black and very smart said he would never go to a black doc because you don’t know if they made it thru because of their brains or because of affirmative action.
Exactly....
Its called cognitive inequality. Some folks are good at brain-related subjects. Others are good at sports, etc. Capisce, Mr Med Student?
Its what we call "genetics", Mr Dr-in-Training.
It's too bad the people at the college are too stupid to recognize the error of their thought process. It casts the quality of the school in a poor light.
This is the height of insanity. Basically, no one can be recognized for excellence or accomplishment unless every race is perfectly recognized among those recognized. Where will this end?
And will there now be a certain percentage of transexuals in med school to make libs happy? Never mind grades or skills any more!
“Sorry Miss Lynch but folks admitted to medical school thanks to affirmative action are likely to not be as accomplished in medical school as those admitted NOT using affirmative action.”
Agree. And I STILL BELIEVE that one of the REAL reasons for the push for socialized medicine is the FACT that when people are given a CHOICE, they generally will NOT chose those who have been given their license to meet some ‘numbers’ quota, but instead they will choose those who EARNED their way to their certification (i.e., Jews).
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