Yale medical students issue demands for diversity

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I suggest politics as a career, not Medicine.

Seriously, infrastructure and government dependency? What on earth does that have to do with being a physician?

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[el_duderino]

I hate politics I love medicine. I can combine my love of medicine and social justice into a career.

You haven't done either. What on earth are you talking about?

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I hate politics I love medicine. I can combine my love of medicine and social justice into a career.

Then you will be wasting a med school spot. If you want to be a practicing physician, great. If you don't (which is fine), don't go to med school.

For what its worth, I say the same thing to physician administrators.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I hate politics I love medicine. I can combine my love of medicine and social justice into a career.

Not in medicine you can not

 

[PlsHelp]

Not in medicine you can not

What is to stop me from opening up a free clinic while being actively involved in a low income area? Or volunteering with social reform programs to donate my time? I can most definitely to both

Then you will be wasting a med school spot. If you want to be a practicing physician, great. If you don't (which is fine), don't go to med school.

For what its worth, I say the same thing to physician administrators.

I do want to be a practicing physican

You haven't done either. What on earth are you talking about?

Of course I have yet to do either...I'm in undergrad. I'm sure you were saying that you wanted to be a doctor for years, even though you had yet to do that.

 

[PlsHelp]

I'm honestly confused. Did you guys ever volunteer? Did you do that only to benefit your resume, or was it genuine? Every research opportunity, volunteer opportunity, it always says must have a genuine interest in helping underserved populations...

 

[el_duderino]

I do want to be a practicing physican


Of course I have yet to do either...I'm in undergrad. I'm sure you were saying that you wanted to be a doctor for years, even though you had yet to do that.

You didn't say you want to be a politician, you said you loved politics. And you love medicine. I'm just saying you really have no basis for that. Anyway, it doesn't much sound like you want to be a physician. Physician is a clinical job. You see patients. That's what you do. A lot of phsyicians engage in research on the side.

Medical school is not the path if you want to enact social or political change. Sounds like you might be more interested in getting an MPH or studying law.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I guess you weren't following the line of conversation, because what I said was relevant to who I was applying to. I am a Sophomore, I do not take any "Social Justice 101" classes. I am an actual black female, first generation college student from an all black neighborhood. It's not a fad. It's not a tirade. It's not being in my little bubble of privilege and realizing the world for how it is.
"The signatories’ concerns arise from discrimination in the medical school’s intellectual, social and physical environments."
It's not a self-righteous, they see forms of discrimination and are addressing it. Maybe if you guys bothered to research it instead of reading ONE article and drawing angry conclusions.

"Our formal curriculum treats the medical exploitation of communities of color as historical rather than ongoing, reinforces harmful stereotypes in cases and with standardized patients, underrepresents black and brown bodies in our lectures and medical texts, and remains silent on systemic issues that create health disparities and the way medicine is complicit in propagating them."
"Our hidden curriculum forces us to bear microaggressions perpetrated by peers and instructors, experience underrepresentation of people of color and women in the faculty and student body, and accept deficient support for students from marginalized backgrounds. Our very physical environment, with buildings baptized after and populated with portraits of white males, is a constant reminder of our historic exclusion as people of color and women."

The general argument here is that this is a very vague list, and it offers no solutions to any of the problems, which is why people refer it as whining. Among the problems are that there is no way to effectively define or hold people accountable for "microaggressions". While yale is low on URMs (10% URM isnt great), it also has 50/50 split in male female students which is another complaint they have that doesn't seem to be founded. Further, what does "deficient support for students from marginalized backgrounds" look like? Pretty much everyone in med school is provided with a ton of support, and there shouldnt be special services set aside just for some students that come from a "more disadvantaged than thou" background set by some arbitrary standard. Also the final line specifically says that just because all the pictures and names are white it reminds them of exclusion. Again no suggestion of what to do about it. You cant just go throwing away paintings of founders and famous docs because they were not black or had views that today may be unsavory. They still founded or contributed to the damn medical school.

People are getting caught up here in right and wrong, justice and injustice, and medicine. Medicine isn't about justice or a universal upholding of whats right. It is about above all else doing what is right for the patients and leaving all the other **** on the wayside for other people to deal with. A doctor treats patients, and they don't focus in micro aggressions, if their dad's mom couldnt have been a physician (like mine), or if the hand in their anatomy text book doesnt look quite like theirs.

That is why people get upset when they see stuff like the yale demands. Not because they refuse to help uplift minorities, but because its a diversion from the entire point of medical school.

 

[tymont12]

I'm honestly confused. Did you guys ever volunteer? Did you do that only to benefit your resume, or was it genuine? Every research opportunity, volunteer opportunity, it always says must have a genuine interest in helping underserved populations...

What are you talking about? All of a sudden we are all disingenuous bigots for having a discussion about Yale's medical school classes petition?

 

[PlsHelp]

You didn't say you want to be a politician, you said you loved politics. And you love medicine. I'm just saying you really have no basis for that. Anyway, it doesn't much sound like you want to be a physician. Physician is a clinical job. You see patients. That's what you do. A lot of phsyicians engage in research on the side.

Medical school is not the path if you want to enact social or political change. Sounds like you might be more interested in getting an MPH or studying law.

I said I hate politics.

 

[tymont12]

I said I hate politics.

Well, impactful reform is usually in the form of politics.

As others have said, there is a clear mismatch between your current goals and priorities and how you think being a physician will allow you to accomplish those.

You CAN be a physician and spearhead social change/reform, but that is NOT by starting a single free-clinic. It probably means becoming a higher up in an organization like the AMA which is purely politics.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I'm honestly confused. Did you guys ever volunteer? Did you do that only to benefit your resume, or was it genuine? Every research opportunity, volunteer opportunity, it always says must have a genuine interest in helping underserved populations...

You are confusing an interest in helping underserved populations (which is by no means a requirement for med school) with an inherent agreement with the demands of this and other similar protests. One can do both. Progress is not forged by complicit agreement with the demands of any group. It is the product of discussion, compromise, and a personal understanding that people can disagree without hatred.

The med school I will be going to (fair play, I matriculate next year) was literally founded to serve underserved communities. It's 50% URM, one of the highest percentages in the nation for a non-Historically Black College. What youre missing is someone like me who want's to help the underserved can still disagree with these claims, in an informed and intellectual way. The equation is not as simple as "uneducated people disagree, and educated people agree".

 

[PlsHelp]

The general argument here is that this is a very vague list, and it offers no solutions to any of the problems, which is why people refer it as whining. Among the problems are that there is no way to effectively define or hold people accountable for "microaggressions". While yale is low on URMs (10% URM isnt great), it also has 50/50 split in male female students which is another complaint they have that doesn't seem to be founded. Further, what does "deficient support for students from marginalized backgrounds" look like? Pretty much everyone in med school is provided with a ton of support, and there shouldnt be special services set aside just for some students that come from a "more disadvantaged than thou" background set by some arbitrary standard. Also the final line specifically says that just because all the pictures and names are white it reminds them of exclusion. Again no suggestion of what to do about it. You cant just go throwing away paintings of founders and famous docs because they were not black or had views that today may be unsavory. They still founded or contributed to the damn medical school.

People are getting caught up here in right and wrong, justice and injustice, and medicine. Medicine isn't about justice or a universal upholding of whats right. It is about above all else doing what is right for the patients and leaving all the other **** on the wayside for other people to deal with. A doctor treats patients, and they don't focus in micro aggressions, if their dad's mom couldnt have been a physician (like mine), or if the hand in their anatomy text book doesnt look quite like theirs.

That is why people get upset when they see stuff like the yale demands. Not because they refuse to help uplift minorities, but because its a diversion from the entire point of medical school.

They do say the first step of tackling these problems. " formation of a joint ad hoc faculty-student committee to begin implementation. We expect this committee will provide transparent, quarterly updates to the YSM community." Increasing transparency is the prime way in which problems are resolved. Problems can't be fixed if people are not aware of it. Open communication is definitely a step in the right direction

You stated that they were had a problem with white men being revered, and you were right. That is a mistake on my part. I believe they meant ONLY white men are shown, while those who have made significant contributions to medicine who are PoC are not touched on. I think it's akin to how at Harvard (either their law or med school) all black alumni were defaced, as though they did not belong there. Before you say anything, I know that this did not happen at Yale, but they want to feel a sense of belonging as well.

 

[PlsHelp]

Well, impactful reform is usually in the form of politics.

As others have said, there is a clear mismatch between your current goals and priorities and how you think being a physician will allow you to accomplish those.

You CAN be a physician and spearhead social change/reform, but that is NOT by starting a single free-clinic. It probably means becoming a higher up in an organization like the AMA which is purely politics.

Or forming an NGO in which I can make my plan more widespread.

 

[Terry Toma]

I hate politics I love medicine. I can combine my love of medicine and social justice into a career.

You're using your own unorthodox career goals as the evidence for concluding that being a physician is about more than helping patients. If you can bridge the gap between policy and medicine, more power to you, but the medical education system shouldn't adapt to your specific interests.

Some advice: learn to love politics if you're serious about the things you're talking about. Every single problem you want to solve is highly political. Unless you have a few billion dollars in the bank, you aren't accomplishing any of it alone.

 

[PlsHelp]

You are confusing an interest in helping underserved populations (which is by no means a requirement for med school) with an inherent agreement with the demands of this and other similar protests. One can do both. Progress is not forged by complicit agreement with the demands of any group. It is the product of discussion, compromise, and a personal understanding that people can disagree without hatred.

The med school I will be going to (fair play, I matriculate next year) was literally founded to serve underserved communities. It's 50% URM, one of the highest percentages in the nation for a non-Historically Black College. What youre missing is someone like me who want's to help the underserved can still disagree with these claims, in an informed and intellectual way. The equation is not as simple as "uneducated people disagree, and educated people agree".

That's great. Keep doing what you're doing. But another goal is to also have future incoming physicians in training have equal representation as well. You might not agree with them, but that does not mean that their feelings are unwarranted. They attend the med school, and they attend it as PoC. I think they are better able to speak on their concerns than you, someone who (I assume) does not attend Yale and is not a PoC

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

That's great. Keep doing what you're doing. But another goal is to also have future incoming physicians in training have equal representation as well. You might not agree with them, but that does not mean that their feelings are unwarranted. They attend the med school, and they attend it as PoC. I think they are better able to speak on their concerns than you, someone who (I assume) does not attend Yale and is not a PoC

Yea but the problem with the demands is that no one is just asking for equal representation in the faculty or something. It's a shielding from micro aggressions and feelings of exclusion which get people riled up. Because it has nothing to do with medical training and just seems really excessive if not counter productive. At least that's my feeling.

Also statements like the bolded are part of the "your opinion doesn't matter because you aren't black/Hispanic/whatever" sentiment that pisses of a lot of people, me included.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Also, it was 1937. I hate when people say "it was so long ago, get over it" when it comes to racial discrimination and slavery, but are quick to say "Remember the Alamo" "Never forget the Holocaust," when those things happened before "separate but equal" became illegal in the 60s..

Just an aside, but the nazis put 11,000,000 people into ovens. Separate but equal was aweful, but aweful and systematic genocide are two very different things. And protecting people from microaggressions and feelings of exclusion are very different from both of those.

 

[Roxas]

Medical school is not the path if you want to enact social or political change. Sounds like you might be more interested in getting an MPH or studying law.

The majority of lawyers are beasts of burden just like the rest of us

 

[el_duderino]

The majority of lawyers are beasts of burden just like the rest of us

Yeah, but I was thinking of a law degree as a means into policymaking, consulting, lobbying, or something.

 

[Quizlet04]

You could argue about changing the world, but we do it 1 person at a time. That IS the job.

I would argue a few physicians getting together and saying, "Hey, do you notice that minority patients are getting less pain meds? Why is that?" does change the world, or at least a microcosm of it. If you saw a pattern, would you pursue it?

 

[PlsHelp]

Yea but the problem with the demands is that no one is just asking for equal representation in the faculty or something. It's a shielding from micro aggressions and feelings of exclusion which get people riled up. Because it has nothing to do with medical training and just seems really excessive if not counter productive. At least that's my feeling.

Also statements like the bolded are part of the "your opinion doesn't matter because you aren't black/Hispanic/whatever" sentiment that pisses of a lot of people, me included.

You misinterpret. It's that you're not black/hispanic/whatever so you'll never fully understand what they're talking about. That doesn't mean you don't have a right to comment.

 

[PlsHelp]

I would argue a few physicians getting together and saying, "Hey, do you notice that minority patients are getting less pain meds? Why is that?" does change the world, or at least a microcosm of it. If you saw a pattern, would you pursue it?

Yes. Things like that. Also, I read that blacks with heart disease (I believe it was that one specifically) are given fewer treatment options than their white counterparts. I'll do more research and provide a more in depth response

 

[PlsHelp]

Just an aside, but the nazis put 11,000,000 people into ovens. Separate but equal was aweful, but aweful and systematic genocide are two very different things. And protecting people from microaggressions and feelings of exclusion are very different from both of those.

Yes, and millions of Africans were stolen, had their culture ripped apart, given slave names. Women treated like cattle, forced to bear children, have babies ripped away from them, and then nurse their oppressors babies while being raped and told they are trash. The introduction of crack cocaine into the black community, the planned pointed targeting of breaking apart black families through harsh sentences for said crack (which is approximately the same time served as a white male murderer) and social welfare programs from which women could not benefit if the father were in the picture. My point was not "forget the holocaust" my point was do not dare tell us to forget slavery and discrimination, when they are still present but have taken different forms, when we are told to never forget the holocaust-- an event that did not even happen in America.

 

[PlsHelp]

Yeah, but I was thinking of a law degree as a means into policymaking, consulting, lobbying, or something.

What I want can be accomplished through grassroots

 

[el_duderino]

What I want can be accomplished through grassroots

Oh cool, you definitely don't need med school then.

 

[ZX10R]

What is to stop me from opening up a free clinic while being actively involved in a low income area? Or volunteering with social reform programs to donate my time? I can most definitely to both

When you finally do become a private practice physician (if that will even be possible when you graduate residency) you'll soon realize how impossible it is to "open a free clinic while working in low income area." Low income area = medicare/medicaid patients. If you even have >30% you will not be able to make ends meet let alone start a new business. I would also like to point out that you will not be able to start a PP without investors, investors only care about bottom dollar. You go in proposing this plan they will reject it immediately. I'm not trying to tell you don't shoot for the stars, but what I will say is there are the ideas that you think up which make sense, but in the real world are impossible. If it were so easy more people would do it.

 

[PlsHelp]

When you finally do become a private practice physician (if that will even be possible when you graduate residency) you'll soon realize how impossible it is to "open a free clinic while working in low income area." Low income area = medicare/medicaid patients. If you even have >30% you will not be able to make ends meet let alone start a new business. I would also like to point out that you will not be able to start a PP without investors, investors only care about bottom dollar. You go in proposing this plan they will reject it immediately. I'm not trying to tell you don't shoot for the stars, but what I will say is there are the ideas that you think up which make sense, but in the real world are impossible. If it were so easy more people would do it.

If I can't open a free clinic, I can always volunteer my time to the community in other health related aspects, like testing for diabetes and breast examinations to screen for breast cancer.

Oh cool, you definitely don't need med school then.

Don't be an dingus. I've stated many times that I want to become a physician. That doesn't mean that I can't simultaneously empower communities by mobilizing its citizens

 

[skinnylion]

I love my race, and do not want someone to say they don't see my race. Clearly you can see my race. What I want is to not be discriminated against based on my race. I am a black female, and I am happy that I am. It is part of my identity. Don't disregard a whole part of it because it makes you uncomfortable. Acknowledge that that is what I am, and treat me like a person regardless. Simply knowing somebody's race isn't grounds to treat them differently. That way my point in my other comment.

"By seeing color, that makes me racist"

No, being racist makes you racist (when I say "you" I don't mean you specifically. I'm using the term generally). See me and realize that I have struggles as being affiliated with my race, and treat me like a person regardless. Ignoring race does not make you a better person. It's being blind that there are differences in humanity, and that those differences are OK and don't make you any less human.

It has been proven many times across many threads that SDN is a racist and sexist community. They are racist and trying to get them to see the light will not get you anywhere. You are a good person and all of your points are valid. Ignore the horrible people in this thread, and continue to get after your premedical coursework. Get your MD despite the fact that these people make you not want to go. Do not let their ignorance impact you.

 

[skinnylion]

I suggest politics as a career, not Medicine.

You are an admissions representative. Speaking up for yourself and the underserved doesn't make you less apt for a career in medicine. Medicine needs black females. You should be recruiting here.

 

[el_duderino]

Don't be an dingus. I've stated many times that I want to become a physician. That doesn't mean that I can't simultaneously empower communities by mobilizing its citizens

You keep saying that, but then you keep talking about what you want to actually do, and "spend your time treating individual patients one at a time" never seems to come up. You don't seem to have much, if any, familiarity with what physicians actually do all day.

You have listed a bunch of things that you want to do, and they're all things you can do better some other way.

 

[skinnylion]

I love my race, and do not want someone to say they don't see my race. Clearly you can see my race. What I want is to not be discriminated against based on my race. I am a black female, and I am happy that I am. It is part of my identity. Don't disregard a whole part of it because it makes you uncomfortable. Acknowledge that that is what I am, and treat me like a person regardless. Simply knowing somebody's race isn't grounds to treat them differently. That way my point in my other comment.

"By seeing color, that makes me racist"

No, being racist makes you racist (when I say "you" I don't mean you specifically. I'm using the term generally). See me and realize that I have struggles as being affiliated with my race, and treat me like a person regardless. Ignoring race does not make you a better person. It's being blind that there are differences in humanity, and that those differences are OK and don't make you any less human.

Check out White Coats Black Doctors at UNC https://www.facebook.com/whitecoatsblackdoctors

 

[el_duderino]

You are an admissions representative. Speaking up for yourself and the underserved doesn't make you less apt for a career in medicine. Medicine needs black females. You should be recruiting here.

Only about 45% of people who apply to medical school get in. There are more qualified applicants who want to actually be doctors than there are spaces in medical school.

The last thing in the world he needs to do is try to convince someone who has repeatedly demonstrated that they want to do something other than care for patients to try to go to medical school.

 

[Demosthenes1]

I think before anyone else comments on this thread they should actually read it. There have to be a few hundred posts in here, and many of them cite actual studies.
Systemic bias in the education system, as well as the healthcare system have already been established.
Difference in doctor-patient care depending on race has been established.
"Privilege" in relation to race, sex/gender, and socioeconomic position, is a legitimate term has already been established as such.
Ray Bradbury has already been mentioned far too many times.
The Tuskegee Syphilis study ended in 72. (I'm surprised no one mentioned the forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women in the 50s-70s).
Social Justice has been established as a real thing (John Rawls anyone? If not then Ruth Faden?)
Affirmative action is not "racist" by original definition or contemporary definition, you can argue that out amongst yourselves.
Trigger warnings certainly do have a place in universities, using cases that are near hyperbole to prove that they don't is disingenuous.
Anything else?

 

[skinnylion]

Only about 45% of people who apply to medical school get in. There are more qualified applicants who want to actually be doctors than there are spaces in medical school.

The last thing in the world he needs to do is try to convince someone who has repeatedly demonstrated that they want to do something other than care for patients to try to go to medical school.

There are a lot of careers that are about caring for patients. Entrance to medical school is competitive because it's a lucrative career. Blacks have a history of disenfranchisement. The country was built on their backs through slavery, segregation, and racist laws which created concentrated black poverty and unfairly streamed wealth to whites while excluding blacks. Medicine is a good route to repairing the racial wealth gap and this community should be encouraging all qualified black applicants to apply.

 

[el_duderino]

There are a lot of careers that are about caring for patients. Entrance to medical school is competitive because it's a lucrative career. Blacks have a history of disenfranchisement. The country was built on their backs through slavery, segregation, and racist laws which created concentrated black poverty and unfairly streamed wealth to whites while excluding blacks. Medicine is a good route to repairing the racial wealth gap and this community should be encouraging all qualified black applicants to apply.

Whether they actually want to be doctors or not?

Believe me, if you don't want to spend your time treating patients, you won't last in med school and beyond. The last thing anyone needs is "qualified black applicants" dropping out after a year or three because they aren't prepared to spend 60-80 hours a week, every week, working their butts off to treat patients every day.

Medical schools can and do tailor their class demographics to a pretty high degree. They can do this because they have more qualified applicants than they need. We can certainly encourage more URMs to explore the idea of becoming a physician, but we absolutely don't need to push people to apply. You have to really want this just to survive, let alone thrive.

 

[skinnylion]

Whether they actually want to be doctors or not?

Believe me, if you don't want to spend your time treating patients, you won't last in med school and beyond. The last thing anyone needs is "qualified black applicants" dropping out after a year or three because they aren't prepared to spend 60-80 hours a week, every week, working their butts off to treat patients every day.

Medical schools can and do tailor their class demographics to a pretty high degree. They can do this because they have more qualified applicants than they need. We can certainly encourage more URMs to explore the idea of becoming a physician, but we absolutely don't need to push people to apply. You have to really want this just to survive, let alone thrive.

When you put qualified black applicants in quotes it makes me believe you do not think they are really qualified black applicants. Some students drop out because of the work, but some drop out because of the culture. The poster has already stated her interest in medicine specifically and responders trying to redirect her toward other careers.

 

[Terry Toma]

Don't be an dingus. I've stated many times that I want to become a physician. That doesn't mean that I can't simultaneously empower communities by mobilizing its citizens

The difficulty with idealists is that they become disenchanted in a big way when the career turns out to not be quite what they expected or when they find out that they can't actually accomplish everything they thought they could. I think you should ask yourself if you would still want to treat patients every day if it turned out that you couldn't do any of the policy related stuff that you want to do. Then only pursue medicine if the answer is yes.

Even if you think people are being abrasive about the point, I think it's something you need to consider. You have said some things that make it sound like you have other ambitions that might overshadow your desire to work in clinical medicine. Only you can decide, but give it some serious thought. There are plenty of great avenues available for people who want to do community development work outside of the medical field.

 

[el_duderino]

When you put qualified black applicants in quotes it makes me believe you do not think they are really qualified black applicants.

 

[skinnylion]

The difficulty with idealists is that they become disenchanted in a big way when the career turns out to not be quite what they expected or when they find out that they can't actually accomplish everything they thought they could. I think you should ask yourself if you would still want to treat patients every day if it turned out that you couldn't do any of the policy related stuff that you want to do. Then only pursue medicine if the answer is yes.

Even if you think people are being abrasive about the point, I think it's something you need to consider. You have said some things that make it sound like you have other ambitions that might overshadow your desire to work in clinical medicine. Only you can decide, but give it some serious thought. There are plenty of great avenues available for people who want to do community development work outside of the medical field.

Almost every post she wrote contained thoughts on medicine. She wants to treat patients and be a doctor. As much as the premed who is currently playing soccer and volunteering doing research into orthopedic surgery right now.

 

[skinnylion]

Stop being racist and prejudiced I swear to god.

 

[wjs010]

Medical exploitation. Such as the Tuskegee Experiment. Heard of it? Probably not. That's an example of what they're talking about, not what demographic is at a higher risk for certain illnesses. I'm not sure WHERE you drew that conclusion from.

Yes. Their buildings are named after white males who owned slaves and were in favor of racial oppression. Just as how Columbus should not be revered for decimating the Native Population by "discovering" America. Just as how Confederate Flags should not hang in government buildings in the South. Why revere oppressors? Complacency is condoning it.

"Just because they are saying there is an issue doesn't mean everyone else believes them" I guess just like how not everyone believes that the "Black Lives Matter" movement is a real issue, yet they counter it with meaningless "Blue Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter" groups that only act to directly counter BLM, as though one must choose between the importance of black lives versus the importance of any other life. (NOTE: This is an EXAMPLE. I'm COMPARING what he said about this versus what others say about a group whose tribulations they have never experienced nor care to understand.)

Your age doesn't invalidate you per se. You até just young, green, and extremely naive. Probably 19-20 i.e. Save the world age. As a 2nd yr I'm probably naive too... But once you get into school and get the feel of things, maybe you'll change not your principles, but your application of them

 

[skinnylion]

Your age doesn't invalidate you per se. You até just young, green, and extremely naive. Probably 19-20 i.e. Save the world age. As a 2nd yr I'm probably naive too... But once you get into school and get the feel of things, maybe you'll change not your principles, but your application of them

Hopefully she learns quick and goes into a high paying specialty

 

[Terry Toma]

Almost every post she wrote contained thoughts on medicine. She wants to treat patients and be a doctor. As much as the premed who is currently playing soccer and volunteering doing research into orthopedic surgery right now.

Yes, I have read her posts and seen that she has stated that she wants to be a physician. But she has also listed separate goals that could easily constitute an entire career or two on their own. That is why posters are questioning her desires. If I said that I wanted to be a physician, but that I also want to run a biotech company and be a professional jazz musician, I'd get the same response.

 

[PlsHelp]

There are a lot of careers that are about caring for patients. Entrance to medical school is competitive because it's a lucrative career. Blacks have a history of disenfranchisement. The country was built on their backs through slavery, segregation, and racist laws which created concentrated black poverty and unfairly streamed wealth to whites while excluding blacks. Medicine is a good route to repairing the racial wealth gap and this community should be encouraging all qualified black applicants to apply.

I think before anyone else comments on this thread they should actually read it. There have to be a few hundred posts in here, and many of them cite actual studies.
Systemic bias in the education system, as well as the healthcare system have already been established.
Difference in doctor-patient care depending on race has been established.
"Privilege" in relation to race, sex/gender, and socioeconomic position, is a legitimate term has already been established as such.
Ray Bradbury has already been mentioned far too many times.
The Tuskegee Syphilis study ended in 72. (I'm surprised no one mentioned the forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women in the 50s-70s).
Social Justice has been established as a real thing (John Rawls anyone? If not then Ruth Faden?)
Affirmative action is not "racist" by original definition or contemporary definition, you can argue that out amongst yourselves.
Trigger warnings certainly do have a place in universities, using cases that are near hyperbole to prove that they don't is disingenuous.
Anything else?

You both are my heros lol

 

[username456789]

I want to be an astronaut.

I have a deep desire to spend my days cooking a variety of dinners/desserts for restaurant-goers, and getting to exercise my creativity in the kitchen. I may even want to open my own restaurant some day. I know that becoming an astronaut will help me achieve these goals, and can't wait for NASA to return my calls!

 

[PlsHelp]

KY 7 u j8jk ok o op

I want to be an astronaut.

I have a deep desire to spend my days cooking a variety of dinners/desserts for restaurant-goers, and getting to exercise my creativity in the kitchen. I may even want to open my own restaurant some day. I know that becoming an astronaut will help me achieve these goals, and can't wait for NASA to return my calls!

I'm not sure if acting immaturely towards a person at least 10 years younger than you makes you feel better about yourself? If that's the case, I recommed you speak to a therapist about your deep insecurities--hopefully before your midlife crisis.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Stop being racist and prejudiced I swear to god.

Oh no did I trigger you?!?!?!
I didn't mean to suggest that other peoples views could differ from you own!

 

[tymont12]

There are a lot of careers that are about caring for patients. Entrance to medical school is competitive because it's a lucrative career. Blacks have a history of disenfranchisement. The country was built on their backs through slavery, segregation, and racist laws which created concentrated black poverty and unfairly streamed wealth to whites while excluding blacks. Medicine is a good route to repairing the racial wealth gap and this community should be encouraging all qualified black applicants to apply.

What the **** are you talking about? Yes, you can make good money as a physician but somehow turning it into a justified type of 'slavery reparations' is just ridiculous. I don't believe I know anyone with, "slavery money."

Also, 'qualified' does not mean 'good doctor.' Like the other poster, you seem to be too early in your path to realize this. It's not a bad thing but realize that experience puts perspective on what it takes and what is possible to do as a physician.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

If I can't open a free clinic, I can always volunteer my time to the community in other health related aspects, like testing for diabetes and breast examinations to screen for breast cancer.

Despite the fact that CBE alone is not recommended for breast cancer screening? And testing for diabetes costs money - even if you buy your own A1c machine, we're talking $40/test. Yeah, I totally see you giving that away for free in 15 years.