The English- Asian divide: does it exist?

Abstract

All medical students want to be good doctors, right? And we must have all had it hammered into us the importance of good communication skills to achieve this. The doctor of tomorrow should be able to “communicate effectively with individuals regardless of their social, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, or their disabilities,” according to the General Medical Council.1 What better place to do this than in our own medical school? With an increasing number of medical undergraduates coming from a range of ethnic groups, we are finding ourselves studying in a multicultural society. But do we actually use the opportunity we are given to integrate? We all wish for our distinctive identities to be acknowledged and respected and therefore naturally form friendships with people similar to ourselves to whom we can relate. However, by possibly not interacting with all students, are we missing out? Also, as it is human nature to “go where our friends go” and “do what our friends do,” some subgroups of students may be poorly represented in certain committees and societies, which can be a worrying consequence of this trend. Anyway, whether (or not) you think a divide between English and Asian students exists, and if so that this is important, may well be personal opinion. However, have you ever wondered whether anything could unintentionally promote a divide? The first year is a good time at university to form close friendships. In our university, where the intake of students is large, students are assigned to a particular teaching group in the first year and can easily find themselves completing the year without really getting to know anyone from other groups. Well, grouping is alphabetical, and as most Asian surnames begin with later letters of the alphabet, the mix of Asians and English in groups is not …