BEARER OF BAD NEWS

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The Crimson editorial of Feb. 21 criticizes Chem 20 as "defeating doctors." The editors are, I believe, misinformed and mistaken.

Last year more than 30,000 American students applied for about 13,500 first-year places in medical schools. The competition for admission exists; in condemning Chem 20 for it, The Crimson was following the ancient if somewhat discredited practice of beheading the bearer of bad news. When I last taught Chem 20, the group as a whole comprised the brightest, most highly motivated and best balanced students I have ever seen. Nevertheless, some of the students were poorly prepared, inadequately motivated or lacked natural ability for science, or for some other reason did not come up to a reasonable level, as judged by national standards. I doubt that inflating the grades in the course could be hidden from the medical schools for more than a year or two, and suspect the practice would boomerang. Your editorial states that a high grade in Chem 20 "insures" that a student will get into medical school; if this is so, it suggests that medical schools now have considerable respect for our standards and honesty.

Your editorial further questions the need for organic chemistry for medical training. This criticism, if it was ever valid, is outdated. Much of modern medicine (and therefore a large part of medical school curricula today) is based on biochemistry, for which organic chemistry provides necessary background. F.H. Westheimer   Professor of Chemistry