Grassroots

Very soon after our discussion on teaching assistant, my friend JW appeared in the morning paper and talked about the decline in the proportion of medical students coming from the grassroots class.

(See http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20131230/18571510)

I have to admit the observation is entirely just, and my worry is indirectly alluded to in this site previously. (See http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2009/02/expensive.html) What I didn't mentioned some years ago, and what my friend is trying to imply now, is that the high percentage of medical students coming from affluent families is the result of the fact that many secondary school students from the lower social class do not apply for studying medicine, because they worry that the degree is beyond what they could afford.

Em… That may be true. It is a global phenomenon that studying medicine is getting more expensive. (For example, see Asch DA, et al. Are we in a medical education bubble market? N Engl J Med 2013; 369: 1973-1975.)

Nonetheless, I believe that’s not the major reason for having fewer students from the lower social class.