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I was a working class med student
- Stephen F Hayes (30 June 2004)
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The entrance system should be left alone and the problem of inner city schools tackled
- Amaka Ogeah (30 June 2004)
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It's not always about money: ethnic or not, you have got to be determined.
- Joyce Smart (4 May 2005)
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Class - just a word
- Millie Dutt (16 March 2006)
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Stephen F Hayes, GPSI dermatology Southampton
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A thoughtful article which raises many questions. As a bright lad who was good at passing exams and 'wanted to help people', I was pushed towards med school not least by my father who had left school at 14 to get a job to earn money to support his parents' large, poor family in east London docklands. He would often say 'Son, only fools and horses work, and I'm not a horse'. Dad, currently enjoying a well earned retirement on the costa del Sol, worked most of his days as a lorry driver. there had never been a professional or a graduate in my extended family. I applied to Southampton, thinking I would have no old boy network to compete against in this new red brick medical school. Nevertheless, I was one of only 3 'working class' students in the whole year. I was quite intimidated by the upper class public school accents, rich parents etc and made quite a few social 'fax pas'. My family of course had absolutely no idea about what the experience would be like for me and, bless them, weren't much support when the horrors of the intern year hit. I think there should be some sort of recognition of the fact that people like me from lower working class backgrounds have a social hill to climb to become acceptable doctors-it's not just a mater of skill, ability to pass exams, or even empathy. The authors of this paper have done a service to medical education by drawing attention to the psychosocial problems experienced by working class kids in med school and beyond. Competing interests: None declared |
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Amaka Ogeah, Student Girls School, Kingston KT2 5PL
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I am writing in response to the ‘Learning in practice’ papers by Greenhalgh et al (26 June 2004). I would like to contribute my experience on the issue raised by the papers. I am currently studying in the sixth form an last year; I was fortunate enough to attend a widening participation summer course for teenagers at a medical school. This summer I will be preparing my application for medical school entrance. The course lasted a week and comprised of problem based learning, basic clinical skills and evening entertainment such as sightseeing in London, discos and quiz nights. The students were mostly of afro-Caribbean or Asian origin. Prior to the course, I had been unsure whether medicine was the right career for me. However, most students really had other interests and were not fully intending to study medicine. So what was the point in attending? This became clearer to me, as the week was fully government funded, all expenses paid and generally a lot of fun like a vacation. I kept in touch with some fellow participants and have now realised that out of sixty students only approximately ten of us will actually apply in September. It was obvious to me that financial support at university would not be enough to encourage different socio-economic groups to study medicine. If you do not obtain the necessary grades, as some did not, it is unlikely you can study medicine. It was also strikingly apparent that medicine is a subject that the student must be self-motivated to study and if one requires incentives ,then you may not really be committed to the course. So whilst I agree with view expressed in the paper that junior doctors should be from mixed backgrounds, I believe we must be realistic. People from minority ethnic groups and lower social economic classes should be encouraged but methods such as quotas or different entry requirements based on schools are unfair. Positive discrimination against the ‘typical’ successful middle class applicant is unfair. These methods also undermine the achievements of those from minority ethnic groups as they may feel there are offered places solely for the purpose of university statistics. The government has a fine line to tread between political correctness and creating sets of doctors who are not representative of the UK population, where only a small but significant number of people are from minority ethnic groups. The system of entrance post A-levels should be left alone and instead projects to tackle the problems of inner-city schools would slowly solve the issue. Competing interests: None declared |
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Joyce Smart, medical Student (yr 3) NRA 7TJ
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Reading this article brought back many memories of when I was at secondary school. Having attended what I now consider to be one of the worst secondary schools in South East London, I was never discouraged about the prospect of medical school until I attended 6th form. I am a black African, whose family migrated to the UK from a war-torn country seeking a better life elsewhere, so my mother really did not have a choice as to what kind of school I could attend, it was matter of the nearest school to our flat who had a free space for a 12yr old. At that time, I thought I could and would make to medical school, I didn't think about the cost or whether it was for upper class children or not. I wanted to become a doctor and that was that. 6 years after leaving school, I entered medical school after a BSc and an Access to Medicine course. It was purely self-motivation and determination. Whenever I revisit my old secondary school, the response I get from the headmistress or even the dinner ladies is " who would ever think we could produce doctors from this school?" Just to show that maybe it's not just always about money, if any of those ethnic minority students really want to become doctors,they can do it! Hard work though but not impossible!. Joyce Smart Yr3 medic (UEA) Competing interests: None declared |
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Millie Dutt, 4th Year BSc Student SW7 1LU
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Just a comment about my own experiences. I really don't wish to sound pompous or ridiculous but I recount the following on a factual basis. According to Fussell's multi-stratum American model and Warner's three- tier version, I would be born into the social "Upper Middle Class"; private education coupled with a medical background left me feeling rather blase about my career to follow. I couldn't admit to there being any sort of conscious "struggle" or intention to work harder than average to pursue my dreams. However, this certainty that everything would ultimately fall in to place with minimal effort has not worked to my advantage, except in giving me an extremely laid-back attitude in comparison to some peers. The intake of my University has always covered such a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. In view of this, it would seem that those born to somewhat "less priviledged" groups perhaps strive for even greater effort and achievements than those almost born into the profession. The status of medical student is never taken for granted and its novelty will never age, which is a really admirable trait and guarantees climbing of the social ladder. Perhaps had I not had such easy entry into medical school, I would have some sense of competition as these other groups retain; after all, any career becomes a question of 'survival of the fittest' and fitness is something to be maintained throughout life. Competing interests: None declared |
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