Sunday, January 23, 2011

Afirmative Action

My daughter took a test for admission to a very fine private high school in Tokyo.  Well over 200 kids were allowed to apply for 50 positions, 25 positions reserved for boys and 25 positions for girls, though as my daughter was quick to point out the boy's scores are always lower than the girls.

Nice of them to give the boys a chance I guess, unequal thought it may be.  Though it is not so nice as the medical schools used to be.  I recall a student of mine, a woman at a top medical school telling me  that her school only allowed 10% of the admissions to be female that year, in spite of significantly higher score.  This was about 15 years ago now.  Another friend at another medical school says that they admit now purely on merit.  It the memory of the old system that causes me to select a lady doctor over a man when given a choice.  My odds are better with the lady. 

I recall the old joke, "What do you call the person that graduates last in his class in medical school?"  The answer is of course that you call him, "doctor."

No comments:

Post a Comment