I want to share my good news! I graduated from Western University School of Medicine and matched to neurology. I get to learn to be a brain doctor!
These moments of transition are catalysts for reflection. I remember being 18 and having no idea about what I wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to be an architect or an engineer. While I loved physics, it definitely did not love me.
I wanted to be an author. Ten pages into the manuscript of my first novel, I lost steam and quit.
When my undergraduate time was over, I was left asking “What next?” I decided that I should take on immense debt and pursue medicine and neuroscience. I loved the human brain, and the career possibilities were endless.
After entering medical school, it became apparent just how different every student’s background was. Some had degrees in philosophy, art or history. While it may seem that it would be beneficial for all doctors to have science backgrounds, clinical work proves otherwise.
Health care is practiced in conversation, in uncertainty and in the immensely human contexts that shape illness. A student trained in philosophy may view an ethical dilemma with more nuance. Sociology helps illuminate how poverty influences health outcomes. I know a neurosurgeon who began by studying English literature and philosophy and a paramedic student who began as an opera singer. Canadian health-care programs do not mandate that applicants pursue specific pre-health degrees, but rather a handful of pre-requisite courses.
Which is why I am troubled to hear Ontario Premier Doug Ford rationalize the changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) by saying Ontarians do not want students to take on “basketweaving majors.”
Firstly, the reductions to grants apply broadly across post-secondary education. Students pursuing fields traditionally viewed as practical will face increased financial burden. The change does not simply discourage certain majors but makes higher education financially difficult for everyone.
Secondly, not only does it prevent students from using their youth the way it is supposed to be used – for intellectual exploration with room for changes – it harms health care, limiting the diversity of backgrounds entering the profession. The OSAP changes will lead to future medical graduates incentivizing high-earning medical specialties over others, exacerbating the ongoing family medicine crisis that each year sees dozens of family medicine residency spots go unfilled. If our goal is to strengthen health care in Ontario, the answer is to invest in students and trust that, given the opportunity, those interested in health care will join the field.
Mr. Premier, did you know that you would be the Premier when you were 18? Despite our differences, I do not appreciate the mocking of your academic background. Leadership, like health care, does not demand a specific academic pedigree, but only that one sees the value in taking responsibility for the wellbeing of others.
Mr. Premier, members of the cabinet, OSAP is more than just taxpayer money. It is the people’s belief in the immense potential of every student to rise above their station and be of service to the public.
And I think that it is worth the money.
