Medicine as a family heritage

[The_Observer]

It is not surprising for children to follow in the footsteps of their father or mother or even both....

What do you guys think about this?
Questions, comments, slanders...?

NB: I'll be the 1st to admit...I am from a doctor-dentist family...so medicine has been part and parcel of my entire life thus far and probably forevermore.

[deaf-knee]

There's this parents-are-doctors family I know that makes their kids do medicine even though their kids don't want to.

I think that's kinda bad.

But I guess the reason there are so many doctors around whose parents are doctors is coz it'll be easier for them (applications and stuff) and also they have someone to refer to when they bump into things they don't understand.

And also someone to tell them it's not as hard as it seems. Which I think is most important. :P

just IMHO :)

[The_Observer]

Alright...that's one good comment so far....anymore?

I still remember the time when I told my father that I wanted to do medicine...he laughed and laughed before asking me whether I thought it over throughly in one of those dreadful type voices....I don't think I was ever coerced into doing medicine by my parents...

[Steppe]

I come across this

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Letters/20040622095028/Article/indexb_html

[Destiny_Child]

well, in my view, i truly agree dat studying medicine is sort of like a family heritage. in this case, if the father is a doc, he'll definitely encourage his son or daughter to take medic too. why?..
-he has the $$$$
-its inherited(like father, like son)
-just for da sake of the family'sreputation, the name, the.."Dr,"....
ok..i mean..who doesnt wan his child to be a doctor rite?(if he himself is already one)
:roll:

and the obrserver, since u r from a doctor-dentist family, can u pls explain y would sumone b a dentist n not a doctor whn he/she is given a chance to chooose?

[SHuLy]

hmm..i came across this lady doc during my hosp attachment and i asked her if she would encourage her children to take up medicine...she said no. she would't force them not to do medicine if they are really interested either of course.

well, i'm not sure if gender had influenced her comment, (perhaps we could discuss this too) but i had purposely asked her since i wanted to know the views of a female in the medical profession..

i have seen a case where the child take up medicine due to filial piety/responsibility because the father is a doctor. not much on the parent coercing the child into the field, but rather the child feels responsible for taking up medicine due to the community's pressure, i.e "your dad is a doc. so, you must be taking medicine huh..."

but also; they have the cash...like what destiny_child mentioned.

[byzhanii_bogn]

i'm not sure, but none of my parents are doctors, nor any in the family. so far, only two of my cousin-in-laws are doctors, one a specialist in bone, the other pursuing surgery.

i have a friend whose dad is a doctor and mum a nurse. her sis was doing medicine in uni of aukland, nz. but when she applied for medic a few years ago, her dad actually asked her not to do so. my friend, who's planning to go into law, said her dad wasn't really encouraging them all to be in the medicine field.

another friend of mine, who's mum is a nurse and dad an engineer, has a sister who got jpa to do medicine in moscow state medical uni. her mum wasn't encouraging her at first too. but since it's her passion, her mum just let her go. so now, my friend, who scored straight A1s in her spm, is going for pharmacy. her mum asked her not to go into medicine.

the thing is, normally, parents who are doctors or working as someone in the medical field, and are devoted to it, won't actually encourage their kids to follow their steps. it depends on the children themselves. perhaps being born into a doctor-parents family has the influence in oneself. it's all the influence that actually causes the kids to pursue medicine.

and hence, i don't think that "i want to be a filial child" is right. normally, doctor parents would ask their kids to really think about it before they apply for medical school.

but honestly, it's kinda true that some doctor dads want their kids to become a doctor even if their kids don't want to. i heard some doctors in the city send their kids to do medicine in oxford and cambridge. the main concern here is because they can afford it. and i suppose they think it's something like keeping the status too.

personally, i'm going into medicine for the status. i want to be the first in the family to pursue medicine. it's an honour, not only to me, but to my parents as well. both my parents are in education, they're happy that i am firm with my decision. i've wanted to be a doctor since i was 7, and my ambition hasn't changed. my parents asked me whether i'm really sure about it when they enrolled me into pre-med last month. the way they ask were really freaky, honestly.