Medical Schools Sacrifice Entry Standards at Altar of Racial Equity

Medical schools are in the process of abandoning all pretense of merit as the criteria for admissions.

Via Association of American Medical Colleges:

This year’s first-year class of medical students is more diverse than ever before. In fact, the number of Black or African American students who matriculated into medical school for the 2021-2022 academic year increased by 21%, according to data from the AAMC. But those numbers belie a disturbing history of bias and racial inequity in medical school admissions dating back more than a century — one that continues today and that can be overcome only with intentionality and less focus on high Medical College Admission Test^® (MCAT) scores for admittance into medical school.

The conventional take, which is morally correct, is to lament the unnecessary jettisoning of standards to chase the racial equity unicorn in lieu of a straight meritocracy. That merit should equal success was historically a foundational principle of America.

Related: The War on Merit Arrives in Baltimore as School District Cuts Gifted and Talented Students Program

But in reality, in some respects, none of this really matters for patients’ health or quality of life. Since the robber barons hijacked the medical infrastructure in the early 1900s, medicine has been more about maximizing profits by managing chronic health conditions than effectively treating them.

As Saagar notes in his monologue, the United States devotes an ungodly one-fifth of its total economic output to healthcare, yet chronic disease is more prevalent than ever. U.S. life expectancy just dropped for the second year in a row. By every measure, American healthcare is a scam.

If you compound-fracture your leg and need emergency surgery, modern medicine still does great work. If you’re trying to manage and actually cure type II diabetes (which is fully possible, despite mainstream institutions’ claims to the contrary), you’re wasting your time at most general practitioners’ clinics. All you’ll likely get — unless you get really lucky with a sincere, informed doctor — is poor dietary advice and insulin injections in perpetuity.