The news that journeyman hockey player Dominic Moore has left the Montreal Canadiens to pursue greener pastures on Florida's Gulf coast, didn't exactly rock the Montreal sporting community, other than the usual language grousing by francophone journalists that follows whenever a French speaking player is shipped out of Montreal.
To date and to their credit the Canadiens have been impervious to complaints that the team should 'Frenchify' itself, in order to better resemble the community in which they play. It remains team policy to build the very best team that they can, regardless of language.
Too bad their example is lost on McGill University who have sadly caved to language extremists in regard to its medical school.
The McGill University medical school has announced that it is no longer requiring potential entrants to take the standardized MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) exam, which is the gold standard in assessing applicants potential.
Th exam is pretty much standard across North America and is the most important element in the selection process. Potential doctors study intensely for months and months in preparation for the test. The test itself is a gruelling 8½ hour ordeal which comprehensively assesses the applicant's knowledge and abilities. A high score is almost a sure ticket into medical school.
Score poorly and it's time to look into dentistry.
As one can expect, in Quebec the MCAT exam is not part of the selection process for French medical schools and those francophones that want to go to an English medical school are at a distinct disadvantage, having to write the exam in English. For this reason, those francophones who make it into McGill medical school, (or any other English med schools) can be considered exceptional students.
Shockingly, in an announcement last week, McGill said that it is dropping the MCAT, much to the derision of the traditional medical community.
The decision is one of the most blatant cases of caving in to language militants, an abrogations of responsibility to maintain high standards that shames the school and will likely lead to the school losing its status as the best medical school in Canada.
After years of vicious attacks by the likes of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society, Reseau de resistance du Quebecois and the Mouvement Montreal Francais, who demanded that something be done about the 52% of graduates who choose to leave the Province of Quebec after graduation, the school decided that their position was untenable.
The solution?
Add more francophones to the English medical school, students who will be more likely to remain in Quebec. The only hitch in the solution is that not enough francophones can pass the MCATs.
And so PRESTO, the MCATS are gone!
Dr. Saleem Razack, assistant dean of admissions for medicine at McGill said it best.
"We want to make sure we have a class that is a bit more representative
of society. The aim of the nontraditional pathway is to bring people
into the class with diverse life experiences." LINK
LIFE EXPERIENCE!!!! ....aarrgh!!!!!!!!!
'Life experience' has always been code for a policy of enrolling unqualified students in situations where the school is in desperate need of students or where affirmative action programs are in place.
It is a fancy term for admitting students who are otherwise academically unqualified.
Sir George Williams University (precursor of Concordia) in Montreal, during its startup phase was notorious for accepting just about anybody who showed up and manipulated standards to fill the ranks of an empty school.
Perhaps McGill can rename their medical school for something more appropriate, GREENWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDICAL SCHOOL, sounds about right.
In one fell swoop McGill has destroyed its reputation. It is in the process of turning itself from an elite program into a run of the mill secondary medical school.
By throwing out standards, every francophone doctor who graduates will be considered damaged property.
It's sad.....
All of you over at the University of Toronto medical school....
STOP LAUGHING!!!!!
