Way to go MUN!

Some of my students are preparing for exams now- and sadly, many are just hoping for the best. Others also have the added stress of preparing for life after school- which for many simply means more school.

Students often ask me about different universities and different programs- and I tell them what I can, and try to point them to someone more knowledgeable on the subject.

While helping out one of my kids today I discovered something I did not know about Memorial University- it is the only English Language university in Canada to offer programs in Folklore. Which only makes sense, the Rock is the perfect location for such a field of study. We have incredibly rich oral traditions, ballads and songs, distinctive dialects and a heritage woven from the threads of many different cultures.

So way to go MUN!

Changes at Memorial University Med

It was a nice surprise today to read about Memorial's plans to increase the number of students in its medical school by 50 per cent over the next three years more » The aim is to have more doctors stay in the province, and while that goal is admirable I hope they are considering other changes to its entrance policies. It would be nice if MUN reexamined the requirements they (and all to many other med schools) have used to filter students into the program. MUN should recognize that a 95%-100% average student does not automatically translate into a good doctor. Of course we don't want any of the slackers just getting through with a 60% in their *ahem* Recreation degree (WTF?) but we need to recognize that sometimes the applicant with an 89% can be more suited than his/her higher average counterpart. The soft skills necessary to comfort a grieving family, to give test results with tact and empathy, to educate patients without being condescending and the ability to acknowledge that they might be wrong, are far more important than the ability to memorize: "the knee bone is connected to the thighbone..."(Ok, so it is a little more complicated then that). There is more to doctoring then knowing your Grey's Anatomy, and MUN should keep that in mind.