1241 



the point made by JAMA, namely, that perhaps a great percentage of 

 those turned away from American medical schools are highly quali- 

 fied students from some of the best American colleges and universities. 

 According to Stevens and Vermeulen, "paradoxically, many of these 

 unsuccessful applicants have a much better basic premedical educa- 

 tion than many foreign medical graduates who are imported from 

 ..abroad as interns." ®^^ 



American Medical Students Study Abroad. — As an alternative, 

 many unsuccessful American pre-med applicants go-abroad to study 

 at an estimated rate of 500 per year, and if they successfully com]:)lete 

 their Avork, return home as FMGs, and thereupon face many of the 

 professional problems attendant with that group. The numbers study- 

 ing abroad vary. In October 1969, an estimated 2,343 Americans at- 

 tended 16 medical schools in Mexico, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and 

 Belgium; in the same year 162 were graduated from those schools.*'" 

 Apparently, no American students were studying in the United King- 

 dom Avhere a common language would have eased the burden of study. 

 And apparently few Americans are accepted in Canadian medical 

 schools, although the United States imports a substantial number of 

 Canadian M.D.s — some 362 in the fiscal year 1972 alone. Americans 

 seemed to be accepted only in schools on the European continent and 

 in Mexico, some of which fall far short of America's high standards. 

 There, they face many difficulties, not the least of which is the language 

 barrier. The attrition rate is high — only about one-fourth complete the 

 required study.®^* 



«'•■' Stevens and Vermeulen, op. cit., p. 19. 



The quality of education In South Asia, a major source of professional emigration to 

 the United States, has been judged harshly by some observers. Joseph Lelyveld wrote of 

 India : "At a generous estimate, perhaps 5 percent of the mass of Indian students in 

 Institutions of higher education are receiving decent training by recognizable world 

 st.inlari:;-. ... In most places acidomic st-mdards l>ive fallen so low that tliev c;in 

 hardly be said to have survived." ("India's Students Demand — A Safe Job In the 'Estab- 

 lishuipnt." The New York Times Magazine, May 12, 1968, p. 53. Quoted In, Brzezinski, 

 op. cit.. p. 44.) This condition is by no means limited to India. Gunnar Myrdal stated 

 in his monumental work on Asian development : "Teaching In South Asian schools at all 

 levels tends to discourage independent thinking and the growth of that inquisitive and 

 experimental bent of mind that is so essential for development." (p. 1645) "The South 

 Asian peoples are not merely being insufficiently educated : they are being mlseducated on 

 & huge scale." (p. 1649) In a "Summary of Policy Conclusions," Myrdal wrote: "It would 

 appear more justifiable to halt the increase in, or even to contract, enrollment in secondary 

 and tertiary schools. The enormous amount of miseducatlon at these levels is caused not 

 •only by the scarcity of properly trained teachers and generally low quality standards, but 

 by the wrong orientation of schooling. More students should choose technical and pro- 

 fessional schools for their advanced education ; all schooling at the secondary and tertiary 

 levels should be modernized to Include more technical nud scientific subiects, with erenter 

 emphasis on manual work experience." (pp. 1816-1817) (Asian Drama: An Inquiry into 

 the Poverty of Nations (New York : Twentieth Century Fund, 1968), v. 3.) 



Two American college educators who for many years observed the adjustment of Filipino 

 hcp.ll : ppisonnel to tiie Anitri-ican environii'cnt tnid the writer tliat what would (nialify 

 f'^r a dentist in the Philippines would he the eoulvalent to an American dental assi';tant 

 and that college-level science courses in the Philippines corresponded more closely to 

 those given at the secondary level in this country. The problem of stan'iar''s and de- 

 ficiencies in native training became evident when immigrant Filipino nurses found diffi- 

 culty in coping with science courses given at American colleges and in passing the New 

 York State Board examinations. 



"♦ Ibid., p. 169. But even this alternative of study In Europe is diminishing. Cpen 

 admissions policies that in the past permitted ready access of American medical students 

 to the universities of Western Europe have been sharply restricted. Astonished to find 

 that foreign students, more than half of them American, constituted up to 17 percent 

 of their enrollment, medical faculties in Europe have Imposed a series of quotas on foreign 

 admissions. Beginning in the fall of 1974, for example, medical schools in France will 

 reduce the proportion of foreign enrolled students from 15 to 5 percent. More serious for 

 American aspirants is a new decree that French schools will consider only students who 

 can produce evidence of acceptance in a medical school in their own country. (Newstreek, 

 July 8. 1974. p. 49. The remainder of the article discusses the American role in Mexico's 

 University of Guadalajara.) 



«» Dublin, op. cit.. p. 871. 



