Originally posted by brickmanli:
•Whatcha said "I never understood why pple took offense at these questions." I wish I had his imperturbable spirit. If minorities gave legitimate responses to every ignorant question, then we wouldn't have so many problems, right? I agree, sometimes it's hard to tell whether disdain or pure curiosity is hidden beneath the questions, but for someone who's lived as a minority, he/she could tell. Furthermore, why should the interviewer raise such an incendiary question (like the Sikh question which happened a few weeks after September 11) unless there was a secret agenda? This is a medical school interview, not a debate tournament. Is the interviewer really interested in my opinions on curbing immigration, or is he using it as a litmus test? Personally, I think there are a plethora of engaging questions that interviewers could ask, so why even touch something that carry such inflammatory overtones. In some cases, I would really let the interviewer have it, maybe I'll tell him to step outside. But what if it's a school I really want to go to, I'll be too timid to give a honest response that might jeopardize my chances.
So don't use hackneyed statements like "A physician needs to not only be able to communicate well with their patients but they also must be able to work well with their colleagues in the medical profession," and stop comparing us to cars. I'm sorry, but if you are a white suburbanite living in a white white world whose only exposure to racism was OJ and the Color Purple, then you just don't understand.
And by the way Kazaar, I didn't realize that the racist patient you mentioned was white. But thanks for mentioning.•••
what the heck!!!! geez, you people are so ULTRA-SENSITIVE, I am not a white anglo saxon, but an immigrant who was naturalized as a us citizen 15 years ago....my point was that if you don't take it the wrong way and try answering it the best way you can, can only help you not hurt you....saffron's experience about question her culture can be construed as racism, and yet the old man simply be curious, I mean what better time to try to enlighten the guy?
also on another aspect, if I do get confronted with such kind of questioning...I personally think it is my advantage, because then I realize that this kind of belief is rampid within that medical school (sometimes it is, sometimes not), and as a result I wouldnt want to go there anyway....