With a year to go before its proposed launch, the shadow of the soft bigotry of TMU’s social justice-based medical school already hangs over us. A former specialist colleague reached out to tell me her patient just got a new family doctor who is Black, and he was worried if this doctor was competent or an affirmative action hire. She told him all current doctors have gone through the most stringent of examinations. But will her answer change in a few years? It feels like TMU’s medical school is the Titanic in harbour about to sail on its doomed maiden voyage.
Since facing a rebuke from the provincial government last month, TMU changed its website from explicitly stating that 75 per cent of positions will be admitted through the Indigenous, Black, and equity-deserving pathways, to eliminating the mention of specific percentages while maintaining separate admissions pathways it claims are “designed to remove systemic barriers for excellent students who traditionally face challenges in accessing medical education.”
Still upfront with their ideological litmus test, they state they are looking for candidates “committed to advancing equity, diversity, inclusivity, decolonization, and reconciliation.” Like rearranging the Titanic’s deckchairs, it seems that radical activism is firmly anchored, and there is real fear in the medical community that quota-based admissions will be smuggled in through politically motivated admissions officers. I’ve reached out to Munk Debates hoping they will entertain this topic.
If the government won’t halt the launch of TMU’s proposed medical school until wokeness is no longer the dominant secular religion that runs our education system, I have some suggestions going forward.
First, delay the school’s start by one year. This will allow time for the entire endeavour, curriculum included, to be de-politicized.
Second, ensure that TMU’s medical school admissions require the highest GPA and MCAT standards in Canada. These are the best predictors of medical student success, including exam scores and graduating on time.
While some medical schools have lowered minimum GPA and others have eliminated the MCAT, it’s a particularly bad idea to do both while adding to the mix ideological indoctrination. But that’s likely what will happen. There’s a non-zero chance that the admissions officers at the helm are ideologically captured, part of a wider trend in medicine. In fact, as far back as 2020, Western University’s medical school made sure they had “a more diverse admissions committee… all of whom were required to complete implicit bias training.” And it worked, as the changes led to a “more diverse class” of medical students, at least in terms of two woke pillars — race and sexual orientation.
Third, eliminate the holistic essay and interviews. Consider a lottery if more cuts are needed. How can the public trust any subjective element of TMU’s process? American schools aren’t hiding that the holistic review is their backdoor to the Supreme Court’s ruling against race-conscious admissions. The Association of American Medical Colleges, a key player in accreditation, advises that “schools can consider an applicant’s discussion of any personal experience — even those related to race, sex, and other protected characteristics…” as part of their holistic review.
If the Utopians are concerned about barriers to a medical education, instead of lowering the bar, target low socio-economic communities in high school. The University of Calgary provides a template with their Pathways to Medicine scholarships. High-achieving teens who earn these scholarships get a mentor, subsidized undergraduate tuition, and the fees associated with their MCAT and preparatory course taken care of.
TMU should only target low socio-economic demographics. This is because if you’re poor, talented, and white, you also deserve some encouragement to let your talent shine and benefit society. This should also cover other “equity-deserving” applicants who are low-income.
Finally, there needs to be some form of public supervision of medical school admissions boards. A colleague of mine was proverbially tossed overboard from one of these boards for not agreeing to lowered standards for certain demographics. This approach to dissenters appears to be common. In an exposé on UCLA medical school’s disaster from differential admissions requirements, the dean repudiated dissenters to the point of multiple resignations. Meanwhile, the medical student failure rate of some subjects increased tenfold. Surrounded by icebergs, a government official should be involved in the meetings and internal communications of these boards which play such an important role in determining the quality of our health care system.
Ultimately, legislation is likely needed to reverse the corrosive trend of wokeness in education. First, we need a law to protect the free speech of regulated professionals. There would be a chorus on this topic alone if there was no fear of being sent to re-education camp. Each province should follow Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s lead, as she is set to do so in 2025. Second, we should legislate politics out of medicine. Congressman and physician Greg Murphy has proposed a bill to end DEI in medicine. Soon, no lifeboats will be necessary for American patients.
Finally, Doug Ford has a golden opportunity to cement his legacy, while simultaneously delighting Ontarians desperate for quality education and health care. With the election of Donald Trump — who has promised to cut DEI funding and prosecute non-compliance and the popular commonsense sentiments of Pierre Poilievre — it’s full steam ahead for the silent majority who desire a return to normalcy. Rather than embedding anti-racism in the education system, as proposed by Bill 16, Ford should instead set a course for merit, colourblindness, and content of character as educational cornerstones. Although if TMU’s medical school proceeds as planned, at least we’ll get a great disaster movie out of it.
National Post
Mark D’Souza is a Toronto-based physician and author of the bestselling book, Lost and Found: How Meaningless Living is Destroying Us and Three Keys to Fix it.