Michael Bloomberg’s $1 billion donation to Johns Hopkins University in July will make tuition free for most medical students, covering the full cost of attendance, including tuition and living expenses, such as rent, according to a report from the university.
Presumably, Bloomberg wants to alleviate the doctor shortage in the United States by lowering or eliminating the high cost of medical school. But wherever there are sizable gifts, there are usually strings attached, say critics.
For instance, in writing about the announcement, the Associated Press reported, “School officials said they hoped free tuition would attract a diverse pool of applicants. …”
“Of course, there will be strings attached—it is naive to think that admissions criteria will not be influenced,” said Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Indoctrination, not Education
As a result of Bloomberg’s munificence, huge numbers of students will now likely apply to Johns Hopkins, giving the university a huge selection advantage to sift out applicants they don’t like—that is, conservatives, says Mark Blocher, president and CEO of Christian Healthcare Centers, a direct primary care organization based in Michigan, and the author of Missional Medicine (see book review).
“I fear that medical education in the United States is becoming less about education and more about indoctrination,” said Blocher.
“I don’t just mean indoctrination on DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion] types of issues,” said Blocher. “Although modern medicine presents itself as a knowledge tradition based in science, too much of modern medicine is actually built on truth claims, methodologies, theories, and alleged facts that students are expected to accept to become a doctor. Modern medicine is as much a belief system as any religion.”
Since the cost of medical school education is so high and most students have to take out massive loans, free education could be a major attraction to students. “In exchange, the school will have even more leverage over what the student learns,” said Blocher. “Anything that makes medical education cheaper for the student will give a school a competitive advantage.”
Tell-All Essay
The indoctrination starts with the medical school application process and the Medical College Admission Test®(MCAT®), says Blocher. “The medical school accreditation entity I reference in Missional Medicine has revised the MCAT to make it easier to weed out applicants who are not the kind of people the elites want as doctors.”
Medical schools also require a personal essay to accompany the application, said Blocher. This essay often reveals the student’s religious background, personal values, and other information the school can use to decide if the applicant is a “good fit” with the school’s culture.
In addition to the personal essay, some schools require an interview that includes presenting the applicant with alleged hypothetical clinical situations to which the applicant is to respond with a course of counsel or action they deem appropriate, says Blocher.
Incubator for Radical Ideas
Bloomberg is the same as others who want to control things and use their financial power to do so, says Texas physician John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D., a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, which publishes Health Care News.
“He’s been doing this now for 20 years with his international news network, called Bloomberg News, that colors the news based on their political positions to everything,” said Dunn.
There are so many ways a guy like Bloomberg can change things, the way that George Soros does, says Dunn.
“Bloomberg is just another Soros, and the word ‘oligarch’ certainly fits or describes these people,” said Dunn. “You could also call them ‘plutocrats,’ but they’re basically people with a lot of money and highly positioned in society, and they use this to try and control people. Bloomberg uses his money that way.”
Their wealth allows them to pursue all kinds of leftist ideological agendas, such as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, says Dunn.
“What do you think some of the strings attached to the money are going to be?” Dunn asked. “One will be that Johns Hopkins will continue to pursue the tranny project. Second, Bloomberg will want to make sure that Johns Hopkins is pursuing the DEI project. Third, he will want them to pursue the ESG project. Just go down the list of the woke agenda, and you know that Michael Bloomberg is on board for all of those things.”
Kenneth Artz (KApublishing@gmx.com) writes from Tyler, Texas.
