A side kick of my hypothetical worry about senior (senile) applicants for the medical school is whether we should have more "mature" students - the very label implying that most of our students have not been through the puberty yet.
Oh, I'm not using the term puberty as a metaphor - I do mean it. This is the time after which the body, including our brain, becomes mature. From then on, we do not think any more better, although we do accumulate experience (from failure, or bad judgement - according to Oscar Wilde), social connections, and prejudice.
Look: Alexander the Great conquered Persian at the age of 27; William Pitt took up the office and became the Prime Minister of Britian at 24; Zhou Yu (周瑜) won the Battle of Red Cliffs at the age of 33, and his successor Lu Xun (陸遜) the decisive Battle of Yiling at the age of 20 - a victory against the 61-year-old Liu Bei (劉備), a symbol of age and experience.
"That's history and those were genius. The world is different today." You may argue.
Oh, I have difficulty to believe evolution of human structure takes such a hurry pace, and our process of maturation is profoundly slower than Homo sapiens a thousand years ago.
Look: Alexander the Great conquered Persian at the age of 27; William Pitt took up the office and became the Prime Minister of Britian at 24; Zhou Yu (周瑜) won the Battle of Red Cliffs at the age of 33, and his successor Lu Xun (陸遜) the decisive Battle of Yiling at the age of 20 - a victory against the 61-year-old Liu Bei (劉備), a symbol of age and experience.
"That's history and those were genius. The world is different today." You may argue.
Oh, I have difficulty to believe evolution of human structure takes such a hurry pace, and our process of maturation is profoundly slower than Homo sapiens a thousand years ago.
1 comment:
but Dr. Szeto, on the other hand, being older and seeing more of life do allow one to make better judgement. take the simple decision of applying to med school for example: alot of us do not actually know what we really want to do in the life when we apply, and there are quite a few of us regretting about our decision now but could only choose to stay on the course because of all the time we spent in it. That is also why the american's med schools are postgraduate course. they allow you to think carefully before you choose.
on the other hand, ages does more than just maturing the brain. it shrinks it.
Your student, and an avid follower of your blog.
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