SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Iatros Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 16 text:

The existing evils result from neglect . . . of the great fundamental princ iple laid down by Plato — that education is a lifelong process, in which the student can only make a beginning during his college course . ... To cover the vast field of medicine in four years is an impossible task. We can only instill principles, put the student in the right path, give him methods, teach him to study, and early to discern between essentials and non-essentials. Sir William Osier Aequanimitas Change is painful. And unfortunately people who identify themselves with forms of institu- tions permit change only when it becomes more painful not to change than to change. Bishop James Shannon in the National Catholic Reporter The Downstate class of 1970 must meet the challenges of a new decade in graduate medical education, latros 1970 will review the four years past and try to evaluate our preparation for medicine in the decades ahead. These past four years have been marked by the emergence of a new atmosphere at Downstate, one molded by a feeling of belonging on the part of the students and an increased willingness to make positive changes. Equally important is the pride in medicine and medical education that have underpinned efforts towards improvement. It would be fully as sad to lack pride in the education we have received at Downstate as it would be to lack pride in the profession we are entering. Having but one opportunity, we will never graduate from a better medical school; we certainlv do not graduate from the poorest. Furthermore, we may curse the problems of BrooklvTi and, upon graduating, flee from them; but we will never find a more stark and varied proving ground for our education. Finally, if we regard our training as third rate, no one else can be expected to regard it more highly. Throughout the conflicts that have arisen in the past years at the Medical Center, the word pride has become frazzled by the frequency with which it is invoked to give stature to arguments. Many have felt that the students ' positions have not arisen from legitimate pride but from a spirit of derision or a sense of self-aggrandisement. If this were so, one wonders why students come here: what the terms, what the price? The prime reason to come to medical school is to learn to become a physician. Nevertheless, each student has an individual concept of what a good doctor is and is not. They carry this pride into the classroom and onto the ward and refuse to let that pride die when they encounter a type of doctor, a type of education, a type of insti- tution of which they are not proud. They use this pride as a spur to goad them to speak, when in the past was silence; to lead ra ther than follow; to act in the face of rebuff. It is not the student who criticizes a course who will forget Downstate in twenty years, but the one who is afraid to think he has a voice in his own education. The Downstate of the friture will suffer less from those who err on the side of presumption and impudence in their efforts than those who from apathy and fear make no effort at all.

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APPEDI Bear Mount Discussed bj ELECYS Z ' !!i ' ' ' ' ,„„, tor n ' ,„ , if c K!U7 ! ■ ' ■ e - ' y majoritj ,, ' ,. ' a fime fo fewi J wp X :tl to .uqgMt • , i ,t th. cla.« oftlc . t° •»» iti)c d th« ' t Dooy - » »1 4, co-ltt«.. =f ' - ' ' - f for th. .rrll !. po.ltlon. CoancH 0,.lr C1....S. 1 ' ! ,n It -111 f u»3.r.to »J tl..t on. o« th.ir r.n« .iMlltl . ; f tl? of th. co-iltt«.. P ' ' ' „, th. co-ltt.. ' . .ctlvltU. A ll.t o pr..ia .t. Th.y «. tl».., »K. pooltton. open -lU «» ' ' ° ' co»ltt on «a J»lc Standi.,. Mik. ubovltl (IV) ' Rick Preq.r (III) Or«q luuechor (II) -p itlon open for first y« .tudent CODBittoa on Student Affair tUtch Barman (IV) ' •SltLe and a time for change . . .

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Our efforts are directed toward constructive change. The word change frightens and disturbs many people, to whom it connotes turmoil, flux, un- certainty. Yet, without change there is no evolution; and the earth itself would remain a small, wet rock revolving in space. Man is the first organism on earth to have the potential to order his own evolution, to concejve prin- ciples of orderlv change. Up to the present, evolution has proceeded by trial and error, and it is still highly questionable whether man will seize its reins or simplv prove to be a dead end of the process, self-eradicated from the face of the earth. He who never disturbs the status quo runs little risk of offend- ing, but leaves little impression on his world. He who agitates for new things runs much risk of offending; but he has an immeasurably greater potential for advancing causes, and even in failure his action is instructive. Change is difficult. It involves work that is often unfruitful, hopes that are often frustrated, confrontation that often leaves bitterness in its wake, failures that leave behind weariness and cynicism. But there is no standing still. If the struggle is not to improve, decay and deterioration will inevitably ensue. And so the struggle must be. The class of 1970 is involved both in pride and in change: we are proud of our efforts to bring about meaningful change in the institution which has of- fered us our professional training. There are many dedicated educators and administrators here who have been leaders in this same effort. While ac- knowledging them, we note that the present graduating class has had the pride in Downstate and its potential to devote a great deal of their time and energy to programs to improve our educational experience. We feel these ef- forts have offered much of the impetus to the changes of the 70 ' s. Thus, we dedicate latros 1970 to the class of 1970, the class of change. The Staff