Lapius---On Med
Schools and Grades
Daily Observer
The
mail reminded me of Christmas all over again, an inordinate number of letters,
all addressed to S.Q. Lapius. Those with M.D. after his name I arranged in
one pile, those with racist or bigot after his name I arranged in another
pile. “Throw them in the garbage,” he instructed
me.
“Don’t
you want to read them?”
“What
for? Their contents have been inscribed
on the envelope. I am sure they will not
be enlightening.”
The
latest rash of fan mail was in response to his suggestion that the medical
schools were discriminating against topnotch students and denying them
admission, replacing them with students of lesser proven caliber in order to
strike some sort of social balance.
“As
a matter of fact,” Lapius said, “there is a case in
the courts right now, brought by a prospective law student who claims that he
was denied admission to law school because the school felt bound to give his
place to a member of a ‘minority’ group, by which is usually meant black or
Spanish speaking.”
“But
if he is an ‘A’ student he will have no trouble getting in elsewhere,” I said.
“True. But suppose he is a ‘B’ student, and all the
other law schools adopt the same attitude.”
“But
don’t the medical schools have to strike some sort of ethnic balance? After all, doctors deal with so many different
types of people. The nation has to have
enough black doctors to deal with blacks---.”
Lapius interrupted me sharply, “---and Mexican doctors to
deal with Mexicans, and Norwegian doctors to deal with Norwegians, and
Gorgonzola doctors to deal with Gorgonzolas.
The list is endless. I thought in
I
had to admit that was true. Patients
went to doctors because they were recommended by other patients who had been
helped. “But still, there have to be
doctors who will practice in the ghettos and poor areas ---.”
“And
you automatically assume that a black physician will immerse himself in the
ghetto? He might, but then again he
might not. He might surprise everybody
and become a research scientist or get a job with the National Institute of
Health.”
“What’s
your point?”
“My
point is that,” Lapius sighed exasperatedly, “the job
of the medical schools is not to solve social problems but to train
doctors. That if they choose to admit
inadequate students just because they are disadvantaged, in the hope that they
will, upon graduation, return to their own neighborhoods, then they are
foisting on the disadvantaged, inferior doctors. Everybody should have access to the best
medical care there is available. The job
of the schools is to create a cadre of the best physicians it can. It happens to be the job of the government or
community to see to it that this care is available to all. One shouldn’t despoil a great profession in
the guise of satisfying a social need.”
“But
you must admit that until recently a black student had great difficulty getting
into medical school?”
“But
that is changed now.”
“But
the black community is educationally disadvantaged,” I persisted.
“Of
course it is. But this won’t be changed
by admitting a person to medical school on anything except merit. The poor have always been educationally
disadvantaged. In the old days this was
corrected by having City Colleges that the poor could go to free, and these
colleges had high educational standards.
The inferior education of the poor can only be corrected by subsidizing
in these neighborhoods, excellent schools with high competitive standards. In the old days, if a student failed, he was
forced to run to another career. Today
we permit the students to persist with marginal grades. It is foolishness. We have based our educational system on the
fact that everyone must initially learn reading and writing and
arithmetic. There are many people who
are natural mechanics, builders, artists, athletes, musicians, who are
indifferent to the three R’s. Look at it
this way, Harry. Can you carry a tune?”
I
shook my head dismally. “Only if it’s in
a portable radio,” I said.
“Well,
suppose you were born into a world where the fundamental communication was
musical. How would you fare?”
“Miserably.”
“Well,
that’s my point. Do you feel that in
that case, you should be accepted to play for one of the symphony orchestras?”
“Sure,
if they wanted to ruin the orchestra.”
“Well
they don’t want to ruin the orchestra.
Only the medical profession.”
“What
would you do to redress the balance, Lapius?”
“I
would pour millions of dollars into education.
Create schools of many disciplines, with different emphasis. I wouldn’t create an immediate hostility to
education by forcing everyone into the same initial educational mold. Then, given my way, I would have an open
admission to the professional schools, create a competitive curriculum, and
graduate only those who met the standards.
This way the late bloomers would have a chance to show their stuff. Or those with the driving ambition to come
out ahead, might even do better than brighter students who were
lackadaisical. That way everyone
initially would have a chance at it. The
way it is done today students are discouraged in advance. Why it costs so much even to apply to medical
school that the poor are immediately disadvantaged.”
“But
that would be expensive.”
“Everything
is expensive. It really boils down to
just how we want to spend our money. If
the government subsidized medical schools, and created an open enrollment for
the first year, they could solve a lot of problems. After all, they are setting up an expensive
administrative agency to supervise medical care. The money could be better spent at the
educational level.”
“How
would you have felt if you had been kicked out of medical school?”
“Rotten. But not as badly as if I had never been
admitted in the first place,” Lapius said, as he
started to go through his mail, which meant the conversation was over.