The Philadelphia Inquirer has a competent if altogether predictable article today about the “underrepresentation” of minorities in medical schools. It is earnest and well-done, but most of you could probably have knocked off something very similar just from memory of reading the same points and quotes elsewhere. (Thanks to Dave Huber)
Here’s the basic argument:
Despite decades of progress increasing the numbers of women and Asian medical students, medical schools still struggle to find qualified blacks and Hispanics. The pool is so small that schools increasingly find themselves competing for the same students with ever larger investments in time and financial aid.
“From a societal point of view, it’s a disgrace,” said Jordan J. Cohen, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Medical schools want more students of color to reflect the nation’s changing complexion and to remedy the continuing racial imbalance in the ranks of doctors. Studies also have shown that minority doctors are more likely to practice in traditionally underserved minority communities and that minority patients often feel more comfortable with a minority physician.
Why exactly is it a “disgrace” that there aren’t more minority medical students? Discrimination, of course, would be disgraceful if that were the explanation, but the article doesn’t make that claim. On the contrary, the sub-head states:
Despite recruiting efforts, few black and Hispanic students choose to become doctors. They see brighter prospects elsewhere.
And this point is also repeated within:
“People are just thinking there’s an easier way to make a living,” said George E. Fisher, an African American internist at Temple University Hospital. “They say med school takes too long, it’s too hard… you won’t make as much money when you get out and you’ll be in a lot of debt.”
And then there’s the matter of qualifications.
Poor academic preparation is another factor. “A lot of these students have a very hard time competing with students who went to academies or schools that were well-equipped,” said Luz Ortiz, assistant dean in the Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs at Jefferson Medical College.
African Americans and Hispanics generally have lower grade point averages and scores on standardized tests, including the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), traditionally key components in medical school admissions.
You already know the reply to this point:
But many medical schools say scores are not the only way to predict performance. Other factors they consider include persistence, maturity, people skills, leadership, compassion, commitment to community, and work ethic.
….
“Just going on grade point average and the MCAT doesn’t give you the person who would be the best physician,” [vice dean for education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Gail] Morrison said. “You need to find people who can deal with sick people, who have interpersonal skills. You really do need them.”
Insofar as that’s true, those qualities should count more and grades and test scores should count less for all applicants, not just minority applicants.
If race is a proxy for picking future doctors who will work in under-served areas, why use a proxy at all? Why not give preferential admission points to any applicant who will commit to serving in those areas for a fixed amount of time?
I suspect it’s true that “minority patients often feel more comfortable with a minority physician.” But I suspect a far larger number of patients, including minority patients, would feel even more comfortable with a doctor who had scored high on such traditional measures of competence as grades and test scores. That is, I suspect most people of all ethnic persuasions would choose a doctor on the basis of medical skills rather than “people skills,” “work ethic,” and “commitment to community.”
“minority patients often feel more comfortable with a minority physician.”
This recalls your recent post about the Philadelphia hospital where a patient didn’t want minorities involved in his wife’s care. Interesting that an activity which caused such an outcry is perfectly reasonable when the shoe is on the other foot.
Also, mj, the statement
“minority patients often feel more comfortable with a minority physician” pretends that there is such a race/ethnicity as “minority”.
To John: Do you REALLY think the article is “competent”?
mj, I’m not sure I see a strong parallel, as the outcry in that situation was caused by the employer’s acquiesence to the patient’s demands, not the demands themselves.
Off-topic, but John’s final point reminds me of a recent article which suggests that white basketball fans prefer to watch white players because “people tend to feel a certain instinctive affinity toward others who look like them.” I’m 5’10” and getting a little doughy around the middle – none of these 7-foot freaks look a thing like me. Just employ the most talented players, who play hard and as a team, regardless of race or ethnicity, and I’ll continue to be interested in the product.
“the outcry in that situation was caused by the employer’s acquiesence to the patient’s demands, not the demands themselves.”
No. If there was nothing wrong with the demands, why was it wrong to acquiesce? The outcry was clearly over the demand itself, as it should have been.
Also, the link you give about basketball is misleading. The author clearly says that the affinity felt for players of the same race does not imply “that white players should be given a priority over blacks in the interest of attracting white fans”.
For some statistical evidence that owners act in accordance with Bird’s speculation about fan preferences, or at least that they did 20 years go, see:
David Karen and Jerry Karabel. “Color on the Court: Race in Professional Basketball.” In These Times 6, 12 (Feb. 10-16, 1982): 23-4.
Why not just have racial quotas, and make patients “of color” use doctors “of color?”
IMHO, it is a DISGRACE when poor white patients are forced to get care from black doctors in clinics or HMO’s. Just think: The poor whites will have their more capable children denied a chance at medical school to allow a less competent black to fill that slot, and then they make the poor whites use such doctors.
To protest this bizzare situation is to invite being called a racist. But, they dumped on Galileo, too, and for pretty much the same reason. As I recall, he recanted and lived, but Bruno was not so wise, and paid a heavy price.
Things get ugly when a religion fails.
I was on the admissions committee for a large midwestern medical school for 10 years during the 80’s and 90’s. We could have filled our classes with nothing but 4.0 students several times over if only grade points were considered. We generally looked at every student with a GPA over 3.5 and then went to other qualifiers such as the MCATs, character, etc. Even with the 3.5 cut off, we had real trouble maintaining an “acceptable” percentage of minority students for the traditionally qualified minority student was always heavily recruited by the big boys at Harvard or Hopkins. Most years, we ended up admitting some minority students with quite marginal records only to see many of this group, heartbreakingly, flunk out.
So, by putting underqualified minority students in college, where they then flunked out, do you think you actually did those students any real favors? As the old saw goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You can send minorities to college by the numbers, but you can’t make them learn when they get there – that’s the part of the deal that they have to take care of themselves. And if they won’t, for whatever reasons – poor reading and math skills from school, lack of effort on their part, or whatever the reasons – then, the inevitable outcome is that they flunk out.
But unfortunately, we don’t have numbers on how many kids flunk out vs both their GPA/SAT scores AND their race – the colleges are really reluctant to provide this data, and few do. My guess is that it shows how worthless it is to admit inadequately prepared minorities, and that would threaten their sacred cow of ‘affirmative action’. But without data, it’s only speculation.
I still content that we don’t do people any favors, be they minorities or majorities, by giving them something they haven’t earned. You can see the same kind of behavior in public housing – people are given nice, new apartments for almost nothing, and in a very short time the housing is trashed out and run down. Yet, Habitat for Humanity gives people homes for almost nothing – just cost of the materials, with labor being provided for free – and those houses tend not to be trashed out at all. What’s the difference? Well, there are several: the owners must put in a minimum of ‘sweat equity’ on others’ homes before they can be assigned their own, then they must put in a minimum of ‘sweat equity’ on their own home, then the home is actually THEIRS. They’ve worked for it, they’ve earned it, and therefore they take care of it.
Giving people something for nothing, be they college kids or anyone else for that matter, makes that something worth exactly that: nothing.
Everyone knows that Jefferson Medical College is a historically racist school that admits minorities as “tokens” so that their admission’s record looks fair. These students then have to be paraded through the school for four years with the Affirmative Action stigma. They are often resented and isolated because the majority of students resent them for getting in the “easy way.” Often it is true. They did get in the easy way because they were not disadvantaged at all. They frequently are from upper middle class backgrounds with educated parents. Some students even have parents who are doctors! I can see helping the students who are from low-income backgrounds and who are the first in their family to go to college. However, when it comes to letting students who are using their “minority” identity to get admitted to medical school even though they have no intention of later benefitting their community it is wrong. Recently, the students using affirmative action have been abusing affirmative action. It has not helped the people it was supposed to help get into medical school or make it through medical school. These so call “minority deans” are not helping anyone except their own pocket books! Incidently, there is still racism in America. Yes, most of us admit that but it is not that big of an obstacle anymore. Get over it!
Jefferson has had a problem accepting minority students for many years because minority students are not as smart as white students. I am black and I know that MCAT scores for blacks and hispanics are lower than those for White and Asian students. We should not set the bar lower for minority students because that can affect patient health. Harvard set the bar lower in 1968 and started accepting minority students and letting them graduate without passing the boards. Lowering standards damaged the reputation of this school although they try to keep it a secret that they threw minorities over the fence, so to speak. I agree with Ward Connnerly and Clarence Thomas. We should dismantle minority preferences. I got this job because I am willing to stand up against racial preferences for minorities. I can’t wait to retire so that I can be done with this racial political hoopla.
We cannot get rid of racism and discrimination in medical schools and among faculty due to systemic institutionalized racism. Today, most racism is covert, unspoken and attitude. Nevertheless, it damages minority achievement in many cases. Affirmative Action needs a full throttle revamping. I just read a copy of the Jefferson Medical College 1960 yearbook and it was despicable. They made fun of Black students and patients in a manner similar to the Little Rascals. Maybe that was the way things were back then but recent research has uncovered rampant racism at Jefferson Medical College even today. What a shame!