a short essay from WATCHER
Let me make a little point here, and since unavoidedly it comes to a question of qualification since I will be offering some facts which may be questioned I will offer my credentials.
I am a graduate of the University of the Philippines class 56, I am now semi retired with only teaching and research work, I have at one time served on two state boards of medicine, had been active in Filipino American professional organizations, a tenured professor at an Ivy League school. Some Americans, including white, Filipinos, Indians, and all go abroad to study medicine because of standards, but also because of money, tution is high here. That is what they call the 5th Pathway.
Yes, standards may be high here, but not so in other colleges, not all, just the same back home,where 5 or 6 have also high standards, which I think makes it proportionate to US in terms of population and land area. The USMLE is a tough qualifying exam, but being an American graduate doesnt assure you of passing. It is not ONLY the standards/competence/intelligence that is involved here, but also political/economic reasons. thus even if you passed the USMLE, which most graduates of universities in Manila can pass and do pass, you cannot be assured of getting a slot in residency in the US for the reason that you have to score higher than the american graduate. the reason is why will they hire you if they can just hire one of their own?
Second is that, the slots for residency are way, way below the number of graduates even from US alone, thus what more for graduates from the Philippines, India, Russia, UK, Belarus, syria, and the caribbean. One cannot practice unless he has at least done a year of residency here. so by sheer number, not all can really go here as doctors, but since the need for nurses is higher, one can go here as nurse. if you talk about standards, I will agree that standards are higher here in the US as a whole, but with the exception of I think 3 universities in Manila.
I can say that those 3 schools are at par with about a third of top schools here in the US. to those of us who really look up to the US as the best,(UK and the Common wealth Japan, Switzerland will not be happy with this) you should know that the UP is american originated and patterned. much as the new england states Ivy league schools are patterned after their English counterparts. With regards to law, I can say that the Philippine bar is, oh yes, harder than the California and New York State bar!---#
1 comment:
It takes time and consistency to build a good reputation. And traditions of excellence especially in the academic sector could not be built overnight… Unfortunately, it only takes one foolish act or a single lapse to bring a good name down. I could not believe that the concerned scriptwriter of Desperate Wives is working in a vacuum. I’m almost sure that what he wrote is reflective, not of bigotry or racism, but of the current impression our system makes with the outside world. If you were that writer, it is easy to generalize about the degenerate Philippine system if you’ve heard of such blights as the Nursing Board Exam leakages, such popular notions as you-pay-you-pass, instant credentials such as those from the so called Recto/Quiapo University…etc, etc. Take these, together with the frauds, lies and cheating that continues to be perpetrated in the highest offices of the land and its easier than easy to make the same biting joke. No, the Filipino Professional does not suffer from incompetence or lack of proficiency. Our problem is trustworthiness and credibility as the country, not only in the educational aspect, is wracked and tainted time and time again with scandals over issues of (dis)honesty in all its various forms. Yes, we can protest all we want but for as long as we don’t make a concerted national effort to erase the stigma of deceit in our culture then we will always be the butt of jokes.
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