Mexico Medical Student |

Warning: rant follows.

I don’t like speaking badly about my school since 1) I obviously attend it, and 2) I don’t want to set a complaining tone on this blog or in my life in general, particularly about things I have no control over, but damnit some things here piss the living hell out of me, and since this is my blog representing at least partially some sort a “diary” for me, I have to get this off my chest…

I am appalled at our Behavioral Science course.  I shouldn’t be, because the quality of teaching here is all-too-commonly subpar, leaving one to fill in important gaps, always left to fend for one’s self with little direction, etc. but this really takes the cake.  We have a midterm on Monday and to date (which is three weeks) we have watched 3 full-length Hollywood feature films–The Doctor, I am Sam, and As Good as It Gets–in the guise of “learning,” I can only assume.  There’s no need for this. By my estimation,  maybe 50% of the class has been actual lecture, but even then it consisted mostly of reading PowerPoint slides of bad English word for word.  I’m embarassed to admit this publicly, but I have to.

I can understand watching movie clips of various types of psychopathology depicted in movies and then discussing at that moment the clinically relevant signs, but to watch an entire film over days is ridiculous.  Discussions, when they do happen, are often an incoherent free-for-all and done in groups (something else I detest) rather than being directed by the instructor.

There are, as I see it, numerous problems with using popular movies as pysc subject matter.  First, many people including myself have seen these movies already.  This means we have preconceived ideas about the characters, their problems, etc. which can significantly influence how we’d interpret their clinical signs and symptoms.  Second, movies often generalize and/or exaggerate people for artistic license and characterization.  For example, there will be someone who is obviously and unambigously narcissistic, depressed, OCD, or whatever.  Obviously, we need to learn the clear-cut before the nuanced, but viewing a clip of a videotaped clinical inteview or anonymous patient actor would be far better, in my opinion.

I am also ever-frustrated at having to deal with mandatory attendance for our lectures.  Look, if you need me to be there for whatever bullshit reason (they claim it’s because of US Dept of Education regulations yet no one in the history of time has ever been able to prove/quote anything to that effect from the US side), fine; I’ll play your game and show up, and I’ll actually listen and learn when/if the lecture helps me.  Regardless of whether or not I’m furiously scribbling class notes (don’t get me started on lack of scribing–”Why have it when we have to be there anyway?”  Grrr…) or playing with a MySQL database, I keep to myself and don’t bother anyone, respecting those around me.

Why then does a professor say, “Look, those of you not paying attention: if you aren’t going to be listening just leave,” knowing we are a captive audience?  Either let us go without penalty or mind your own fracking business what I’m doing.  I find most of the lectures to be too slow anyway and lose interest quickly after, oh I don’t know, the 3rd example or after about 10-15 minutes of PowerPoint dictation.  It’s hard to pay attention when there’s often so little substance with which to do so.

Let me be clear about something: I am making a huge distinction between the pace of an individual lecture and the pace of a course.  I may be unchallenged for about an hour or so, once I “get it” early on, but that is not the same thing as truly mastering the material with full knowledge of the subject matter; I still gotta pay my dues and study diligently if I want to excel. If I slack off for even a couple of days (see my “Halo” post a few days ago) I’ll feel that need to catch up really quickly so as not to get unmanageably behind.  In fact, I think the strongest argument for shortening the classes is because often the 2nd half or about 50% overall of most courses is repetative or not strongly pertinent to the most important objectives.  If we really do have to be in every class two hours, I’d love a format where the 1st half is lecture and the 2nd half is problem solving/application/pertinent, well-moderated discussion with a breadth of easier and more challenging problems/issues.

Or that’s the way I’d do it.  Change in any institution is hard, but here in Mexico’s patriarchal, old-school mentality, progressive ideas are shot down for the sole reason of “That’s not the way it’s done”/”When I was in school….” Oh well, I can dream, and sometimes that’s all I feel I have to keep me going.