Race Preferences in Medical Schools

Front Page Mag ^ | 3 jul 02 | John Perazzo

[white trash redneck]

Truly frightening.

An old medical school professor of mine wore a Medic-Alert bracelet that said something like "I decline treatment by any physician admitted to medical school under an affirmative action program."

I think it shows our liberal rulers contempt for their subjects that they are willing to risk our health in order to pander to minorities.

[dead]

Slightly off-topic, but:

I was applying for a home equity line of credit at the bank just this morning. The woman was entering the information on the computer. It got to one point, where I had to read some Federal Notice on her screen. It said that they were asking for racial and other information, I could choose not to answer, but the bank employee was required to enter a guess based on observations if I refused.

I told her I wouldn't answer any of those questions. She put down White and Male. I congratulated on her stellar observational skills.

To be a liberal, you must believe that an official racial classification based spoils system made South Africa undeniably evil, but it's wonderful in the United States.

Hypocritical retards.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

[buffyt]

I am sure the banker would have put down WHITE and female for me. I appear white, pastey white -- but I have blac, ancestors, including Rufus Hargrove/slave. My great grandmother was 1/2 Cherokee. I wonder where I go to get sum dat gov'mint moneys????

[Alberta's Child]

Race preferences in medical school admissions is actually not a bad thing, since it officially vindicates anyone who has used a different "race preference" standard in selecting their physician.

Sure, the end result will be that large numbers of unqualified people will end up becoming medical doctors. But I suspect that all of these people will end up working in store-front clinics in Third World-style urban areas where the ingrained expectation for "medical treatment" involves nothing more than a medicine man dancing around the end of your bed anyway.

[mbynack]

You probably won't have to worry too much about it. I saw statistics a couple of months ago from one school in the midwest that showed that only about 15% of minority students admitted under these programs graduate from a four year university within five years of enrolling. Of those that graduate, most cannot pass the state professional licensing exams.

[Pythagoras]

Bush really is doing a good job to do something about this one isn't he *rollseyes.* Welcome to Multiculturalism!

[Alberta's Child]

Of those that graduate, most cannot pass the state professional licensing exams.

That's a good point, but you should note that Step #2 in this process is the dumbing-down those professional licensing exams. To eliminate "racial bias," of course.

[bonesmccoy]

Prove it. Where did you see the data?

I've been looking for such data for years and I've never seen it once.

[bonesmccoy]

That's absolutely false. Exactly what do you mean by "dumbing down"?

[Henrietta]

I had a discussion with a FReeper affirmative action apologist regarding the same issues mentioned in your post. She accused me of being a bigot for saying that I would be reluctant to go to a black doctor becuase they are less qualified. She trotted out the old liberal lies about how skin color is just used to "tip the scales." What a load of crap.

When she couldn't get anywhere in her argument, she resorted to name calling, the last defense of Leftists everywhere.

[Alberta's Child]

Almost any profession that relies on licensing exams will be scrutinized closely to determine if women and minorities fail these exams at a higher rate than white males. Just like the SAT, which was originally used because it was supposed to be "unbiased."

[WellsFargo94]

So my white son who wants to go to medical school may just get screwed by the system. Wait until I have him read this article, I bet it will light a fire under him to work harder than ever.

[mbynack]

I don't remember if I saw it on the news or if I saw it while preparing for a debate last semester. I believe the school that provided the statistics was Michigan State. Here's a good link with some background.

http://ourworld.cs.com/ceoofam colso/id108.htm?f=fs

[justshutupandtakeit]

Been eating beans? Bush can do nothing about this crap but appoint a decent SC Justice when the chance arrives. But since he is under attack so much from the "conservatives" the RATS will be able to kill nominations without drawing fire. Attacking our own allows the mischief of the RATS to continue without resistance. Foolish.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Been eating beans? Bush can do nothing about this crap but appoint a decent SC Justice when the chance arrives. But since he is under attack so much from the "conservatives" the RATS will be able to kill nominations without drawing fire. Attacking our own allows the mischief of the RATS to continue without resistance. Foolish.

[lizma]

"She accused me of being a bigot for saying that I would be reluctant to go to a black doctor becuase they are less qualified. "


I have a friend who is a black physicians who says the same thing.

It's just not the fact they admit students less qualified, it's the extraordinary lengths they go through to keep them from flunking out!

The people most hurt by this are the minority students who graduate by using their brains and hard work without the help of liberal do-gooders. Everyone is left to wonder whether their accomplishments were acheived by merit or by skin color.

[Khepera]

you should have told her your race was human.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

I know the article to be valid as I worked in the Admissions Office of one of two medical schools in St. Louis when I was in school. We had, at that time, -- long, long ago, and far, far away -- 145 available slots and 12 had to be appointed to a minority. In order to do so, standards had to be lowered for minorities. At that time, MCAT's were valued differently. This medical school would accept minorities who managed 450 on the MCAT and whites had to be above 700, but below 850. Above 850 and the dean felt psychological instability might be a problem for the rigorous requirements to complete medical school.

When I finished school and went to work in the department of one of the specialties at the other medical school in St. Louis, the interns who rotated through the program were all very white in color. There were more females, however. Maybe that's how it worked there. At any rate, two wrongs don't make a right, and the minority doctors who finished, passed their exams and hung out their shingles had, and will continue to have, to fight the prejudice surrounding their degrees.

[ValenB4]

"On the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), the median score for whites was 37, for blacks 31, for Hispanics about 34, and for Asians 38."

There's no way that's true. When I took the MCAT, the mean scores for the biological sciences, physical sciences, and verbal reasoning sections were 8.4, 8.1, and 7.8 for a total of 24.3.