no, this is not about medical school

Turns out that I am still capable of talking about some topics outside of medical school. A recent BBC article on the upcoming college entrance exam in China sparked these random musings about the future of this country and the whole immigration debate.*


In a few days, 10 million high school students in China will be taking their college entrance exam, the Gao Kao. Because there are only about half as many college spots and because upward economic mobility in China is tightly tied to the level of education, this is an impressive experience that we probably can't even comprehend. The students have been cramming for months and many have worked harder than I think even medical students can imagine. It is such an important occasion that on the days of the tests, construction with stop at night and police cars will silence their sirens.

In comparison, just in case you need one, about 1 million high school kids in the US take the SAT every year. And though my memory is blurry of the experience, I don't remember it being all too stressful or difficult. Maybe I read a book, or learned a few extra vocabulary words? I don't even remember that.

According to wikipedia (sorry, too lazy to look for a more legit source), the Gao Kao has been critized for such intense focus on pure memorization and little to no test of critical thinking. Sounds a bit like medidcal school...

...Except that there are 10 million people taking it, and half of them are going to end up working in blue-collar jobs. (In comparison, I went to college with more than a few students who could not write in complete sentences.) For the Gao Kao, mandatory subjects are Chinese, Mathematics, and a foreign language (usually English). Depending on their career goals, students then test for Biology, Physics, and Chemistry or Politics, Geography, and History.

I am in no way advocating for rote memorization or the kind of psychological pressure that these kids are under. However, from personal experience, I know that sometimes you have to work pretty darn hard to get somewhere legitimate in your career. No one wants a doctor that "kinda" knows his stuff. It is sad to hear about the stress the kids in China are under but also a bit embarrassing to compare their standards to ours. A few more years of such academic rigor in that country and their custodians will be more highly educated than our college grads.

While this country continuously degrades education and expertise (refer to the brilliantly pointed Greetings from Idiot America commentary), we are being left in the dust by some of the future's largest and most powerful countries. Meanwhile, we get fatter, slower, dumber and further disconnected from the reality outside of reality TV. I studied for the SAT, not the Gao Kao, so forgive my ignorance of history, but this all is starting to sound eerily like the final days of the Roman empire.

Ironically, the saving grace of this country might be its immigrants, though people here are working hard to change that as well. Many of those ambitious, highly educated Chinese students would love to come here, and other immigrants from all over the world bring with them that motivation and willingness to work hard. A third to one half of my medical school class is composed of immigrants or direct descendents of immigrants. All of the people working in my parents' labs are immigrants. Most of the people designing our drugs, curing cancer, and improving our technology were not born on American soil. Immigrants have historically built and sustained this country, and we will continue to do so, if you let us.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I am indeed, one of "them". A scary immigrant. Born not of American soil -- though naturalized here, willingly and voluntarily many years ago. I passed the exam with flying colors --yes, the same exam that randomly selected Americans tend to flunk-- and I was thrilled to become an American citizen. Now, as immigration becomes such a hotbutton political issue of oversimplified fear and selfishness, I worry about the future of my new country as it starts to fear its most motivated and hardest working members.