The Harder They Fall
It's amazing how your opinion of a person can radically change with just one sentence. Really. It truly is.
It's also amazing, the number of people in my program that have differing views. Not just small differences--believe me, I am friends with A LOT of people who have various differing views on religion, politics, liberalism, the idea of good food, etc. I can deal with almost everything. There are a few things I don't tolerate: strong opinions that oppose my dealings with my mental illness [the sort of "mental illnesses are caused by a lack of Jesus" or "you can't possibly be bipolar"] and strong opinions that tell a person that he or she is better--in whatever way--than someone else.
Case in point: person in my program is remarkably antisocial today, divulges that it is a result of a poor histology grade that this person cannot get past. This I can understand.
Joe makes a point that a lot of people did poorly on this portion of our exam--in fact, it appears that about 1/3 of us failed or almost failed [raises hand]. This person proceeds to argue that, since, another 1/3 of the class did exceedingly well, it is legitimate to feel shitty about it a week later.
The person concedes that the "shitty" grade in question was actually average--neither in the "awesome" category or the "me" category. But this was my--no, our--favorite statement. "We're MD/PhD students! We're supposed to be in that top category! We're supposed to be doing awesome!"
At which point Joe and I exchange a distinct look. Being the more vocal of the two of us, he starts talking. His prime--and valid--point is this. "No. Being MD/PhD students doesn't mean we're supposed to be better than everyone else. It just means we have different interests, and those include research."
It's no wonder so many people have a bold distaste for MD/PhD students. This feeling that we're supposed to be "better than everyone" else pervades our program, including--and maybe even beginning with--our directors, who told me blatantly and specifically, "We like our MD/PhD students to have the best grades."
But why? For numbers and statistics? For funding? Because we want to make all of our students self-important jerks who can't see that the things they say may be hurting, deeply, someone around them? Because we want to perpetuate the idea that it is ok to belittle someone or make judgments based on numbers?
There are things I like about my program--the fact that it will prepare me to do exactly what I want to do: practice and research. There are many more things I don't like about my program: the attitudes of the people in it, and the way these attitudes make me feel constantly inferior and make me fear that I will lose the thing I've wanted for the past six years.
It's also amazing, the number of people in my program that have differing views. Not just small differences--believe me, I am friends with A LOT of people who have various differing views on religion, politics, liberalism, the idea of good food, etc. I can deal with almost everything. There are a few things I don't tolerate: strong opinions that oppose my dealings with my mental illness [the sort of "mental illnesses are caused by a lack of Jesus" or "you can't possibly be bipolar"] and strong opinions that tell a person that he or she is better--in whatever way--than someone else.
Case in point: person in my program is remarkably antisocial today, divulges that it is a result of a poor histology grade that this person cannot get past. This I can understand.
Joe makes a point that a lot of people did poorly on this portion of our exam--in fact, it appears that about 1/3 of us failed or almost failed [raises hand]. This person proceeds to argue that, since, another 1/3 of the class did exceedingly well, it is legitimate to feel shitty about it a week later.
The person concedes that the "shitty" grade in question was actually average--neither in the "awesome" category or the "me" category. But this was my--no, our--favorite statement. "We're MD/PhD students! We're supposed to be in that top category! We're supposed to be doing awesome!"
At which point Joe and I exchange a distinct look. Being the more vocal of the two of us, he starts talking. His prime--and valid--point is this. "No. Being MD/PhD students doesn't mean we're supposed to be better than everyone else. It just means we have different interests, and those include research."
It's no wonder so many people have a bold distaste for MD/PhD students. This feeling that we're supposed to be "better than everyone" else pervades our program, including--and maybe even beginning with--our directors, who told me blatantly and specifically, "We like our MD/PhD students to have the best grades."
But why? For numbers and statistics? For funding? Because we want to make all of our students self-important jerks who can't see that the things they say may be hurting, deeply, someone around them? Because we want to perpetuate the idea that it is ok to belittle someone or make judgments based on numbers?
There are things I like about my program--the fact that it will prepare me to do exactly what I want to do: practice and research. There are many more things I don't like about my program: the attitudes of the people in it, and the way these attitudes make me feel constantly inferior and make me fear that I will lose the thing I've wanted for the past six years.
posted by Another Chance to Get It Right at
9:00 PM
1 Comments:
"But why? For numbers and statistics? For funding? Because we want to make all of our students self-important jerks who can't see that the things they say may be hurting, deeply, someone around them? Because we want to perpetuate the idea that it is ok to belittle someone or make judgments based on numbers?"
Yup, that pretty much sums it up completely.
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