A

s an organic chemistry 
lab 
exam 
is 
fast 

approaching, the topic 

of studying comes up among a 
group of me and my classmates. 
How best should we prepare 
for the exam? We know we 
shouldn’t simply memorize the 
material but the temptation to 
just make up some flash cards 
and cram information into 
our brains for a short period 
of time is too great. However, 
what started as a seemingly 
normal collegiate conversation 
took a turn for the worse as the 
topic entered a dark place. No, 
not cheating, but purposefully 
“helping” other classmates by 
giving them the wrong answers 
to questions. Yes, in discussing 
how best to study, the idea 
came into fruition to actually 
lie to fellow students in order 
to boost one’s own chances of 
doing well.

As a student who aspires 

to go into the medical field, 
my mentality toward classes 
such as orgo or biochemistry 
— those that often foster such 
a competitive mindset — is do 
or die. Either I get a good grade 
and my success is secured, or 
I do not do well and I need to 
resort to my list of backup plans. 
The competitive nature of the 
courses we take has fostered 
this mindset in me as well as in 
many friends following similar 

intended career pathways.

Courses in which the top 25 

percent of students can get an 
A — even if their actual class 
grade would be the equivalent 
to a C — and the lowest 25 
percent 
are 
unfortunate 

enough to receive a D, pit 
students against one another. 
These courses promote a kind 
of competition detrimental to 
not only a student’s success 
and 
academic 
environment, 

but also the larger professional 
working world. Students who 
learn in an environment in 
which an individual’s success is 
held to a higher standard than 
accruing greater knowledge 
and sharing ideas that could 
benefit everyone undoubtedly 
carry those sentiments to their 
professional careers and future 
work environments. I don’t 
know about others, but I was 
hoping constant competition 
among my peers would end 
with 
my 
academic 
career. 

Perhaps this is just the result 
of naive daydreaming about 
becoming a doctor.

The reality is the pressures 

that exist in the academic 
community 
for 
pre-med 

hopefuls are echoed in the 
careers themselves. Physicians 
are among the highest-rated 
professions for suicide. What’s 
more, female physicians are 
two and a half to four times 
more likely to commit suicide 
than the general population. 
And more broadly, those in 
the medical field are also 

more likely to develop drug 
addictions 
and 
become 

depressed. While not all of 
these issues of mental health 
can be attributed solely to 
choosing to become a doctor, 
there is a clear link with 
immense amounts of stress 
and maintaining a professional 
career in the health industry.

Rather than suggest my peers 

find a new career pathway if 
they can’t handle the pressures 
of the medical field, feeding 
into 
the 
competition 
that 

already infests their intended 
field, I propose a culture shift. 
Why continue an ineffective 
system that results in increased 
suicide and drug addiction 
rates among our life-saving 
professionals? Why continue 
an ineffective system that pits 
students against one another 
and fosters a hostile learning 
environment? Let’s not! While 
the kinds of classes we have 
to take may never change, we 
as students have the right to 
choose the way we see our 
education. Rather than seeing 
our time here at the University 
of Michigan as a way to crush 
our competitors in order to 
become the best and brightest, 
we should view this as an 
opportunity to learn as much as 
we can from the people around 
us and do the same for others.

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, November 21, 2016

Competition among pre-meds is unhealthy

LAURA SCHINAGLE

Managing Editor

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

SHOHAM GEVA

Editor in Chief

CLAIRE BRYAN 

and REGAN DETWILER 

Editorial Page Editors

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. 

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

Carolyn Ayaub
Claire Bryan

Regan Detwiler
Brett Graham
Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan

Ben Keller
Minsoo Kim

Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy 

Jason Rowland

Ali Safawi

Kevin Sweitzer

Rebecca Tarnopol

Ashley Tjhung

Stephanie Trierweiler

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

CAITLIN HEENAN | OP-ED

Caitlin Heenan is a senior opinion 

editor at the Daily. 

L

ike millions of people 
these past two weeks, 
I have been trying to 

understand the outcome of 
the 
presidential 

election. 
I 
have 

gathered 
so 
far 

that 
Donald 

Trump’s rise is far 
from 
monocausal. 

Rather, the election 
results 
originated 

from 
several 

sources 
including, 

but 
certainly 
not 

limited 
to, 
white 

supremacy, sexism, 
education disparity, the rural-
urban divide and a lack of 
engagement with the working 
class on the part of Democrats.

Conversations deducing how 

Trump rose to the top of U.S. 
politics have become rather 
complex. 
National 
dialogue 

and protests have constituted 
some of the reaction to the 
election. Dialogue and protests 
are a necessary next step to 
figuring out where the body 
politic goes from here. Much 
of the dialogue has focused on 
how Trump was elected and 
how liberals can move forward, 
and some of it has been taking 
place on the University of 
Michigan’s campus, along with 
several protests. Though I am 
a proponent of dialogue and 
protests, these reactions must 
focus on fixing the system 
that got us here instead of 
promoting denial of the current 
state of our national politics.

So far, the protests against 

Trump have expressed rage 
against his presidential win — 
they demonstrate the views of 
a subset of the United States 
that will never agree with his 
values. The protests display a 
United States that believes in 
denouncing 
the 
intolerance 

and demonization that Donald 
Trump used to rise to power. 
Though I think protests are 
beneficial strategies for any 
movement, it’s worth noting 
that protests will only go so 
far. For the most part, it seems 
as though protests only unite 
those who share similar beliefs. 
That is why the dialogue that 
is occurring is a necessary 
addition 
to 
the 
anti-Trump 

protests. Primarily, this dialogue 
needs to include engagement 
within the Democratic Party, 
to restructure and re-engage 
the people who decided they 
disagree with its values. That 
sort of discussion identifies 
how the left can ensure that 
people like Trump never rise to 
power again.

I believe there is a group of 

people that thinks the goals 

of anti-Trump protests are 
whining cry-babies trying to 
change the outcome of the 
election, aimed at showing 

enough 
opposition 

to Trump to make 
the Electoral College 
vote against him. I 
don’t even come close 
to agreeing with that 
framing. It may be 
easy to find a subset 
of 
protesters 
who 

are trying to change 
the election results, 
but I have yet to see 
a 
majority 
stance 

from an anti-Trump movement 
or politician attempting to 
portray the goals of protests as 
changing the outcome of the 
election. I believe the general 
and explicit purpose of these 
protests is to unite against 
the 
hateful 
values 
Trump 

propagates. However, even if 
the main goal of anti-Trump 
protests and dialogue isn’t 
to push against the election 
results, that intention persists 
in many ways in the reaction to 
Trump’s win.

Even if the major goal of 

anti-Trump protests is not 
to change the election, it has 
existed in some rhetoric on the 
left. For example, one petition 
was widely spread throughout 
liberal social circles, calling 
for the Electoral College to 
change its votes and elect 
Hillary Clinton. This argument 
is based on the idea that since 
Hillary won the popular vote, 
the Electoral College should 
unilaterally 
elect 
her 
and 

deny Donald Trump his seat 
in the Oval Office. Even if 
electors could change their 
votes, which they probably 
won’t, the argument misses 
a very important point: Even 
if 
the 
popular 
vote 
went 

to Clinton, it only did by a 
relatively small margin. We 
shouldn’t be celebrating that; 
we should be afraid of it. We 
should be questioning why so 
many people didn’t denounce 
Trump’s 
sexism, 
racism, 

homophobia and xenophobia by 
voting against him. This is the 
primary problem with denialism.

Denialism fails to figure 

out how we got here. It fails to 
question how we deconstruct 
white supremacy. It fails to 
question how liberals engage 
with the working class. It 
fails to question the role that 
Hillary Clinton’s gender played 
in her loss. It fails to figure out 
why 41.8 percent of eligible 
voters decided not to vote. 
These people decided they 
didn’t share Donald Trump’s 
values, yet also decided they 
didn’t care enough about these 
values to stop him.

A major slogan employed by 

protesters has been “not my 
president.” The point of such 
a slogan seems obvious: Many 
people in this country using 
it don’t agree with the beliefs 
of their new president-elect. 
The major problem with such 
rhetoric is that it erases a very 
obvious and important fact — 
Trump is your president. The 
left needs to remind itself of that 
every day for the next four years. 
We need to remind ourselves of 
it every time we lose sight of the 
liberal ideals of tolerance, equity 
and safety for all. We need to 
remind ourselves of that fact, as 
liberals try to restructure the 
Democratic Party to fight against 
racism, sexism, neoliberalism 
and liberal elitism.

Once again, I am not critiquing 

anti-Trump protests or dialogue. 
Instead, I am pushing for a more 
deliberate, 
thoughtful 
agenda 

that 
focuses 
on 
re-engaging 

voters. Protests and dialogue 
need to focus on understanding 
how the United States and 
Trump got here. They also need 
to engage with those who were 
not sufficiently motivated to vote 
against his presidency.

So stop chanting that he is 

not 
your 
president. 
Scream 

about how you will never accept 
Trump’s hatred. Scream love for 
the communities currently living 
in fear. Scream that you resent 
it, but that he is your president. 
Every time you say the words 
“President Donald Trump,” be 
reminded of this failure. Let it 
be a call to action about how you 
will help the communities that 
are going to be battered under a 
Trump presidency. Be reminded 
of what you are going to do to 
stop alt-right, white nationalist 
politics from continuing to rise 
in the United States.

Protests are good, but denial isn’t

MAX LUBELL | COLUMN

MAX 

LUBELL

ANNIE TURPIN | CONTACT ANNIE AT ASTURPIN@UMICH.EDU

Max Lubell can be reached at 

mlubell@umich.edu.

CAITLIN HEENAN

Relaxing to fuel your future

ASHLEY ZHANG | OP-ED

M

y 
older 
sister, 
a 

University of Michigan 
alum of the class of 

2011, always told me that Michigan 
was a very “work hard, 
play hard” school, but 
it’s a phrase that cannot 
be 
fully 
understood 

until 
you 
stay 
on 

campus for a weekend 
and see for yourself 
the 
stark 
disparity 

between a Saturday 
and 
Sunday 
night. 

The former is filled 
with debauchery and 
cheer, the darkened 
streets swarming with people 
fighting the bitter cold on their 
way to the next party. One day 
later, the streets are silent and 
still, and it’s near impossible to 
find an open seat in the library.

The overnight transformation 

is jarring, but it’s a reputation 
that Michigan students have 
always been proud of. However, 
the merits of the “work hard, play 
hard” lifestyle are questionable.

I hadn’t even realized how 

much I’d bought into it until I 
was heading back to my sleepy, 
suburban hometown of Troy, 
Mich., for Fall Break after a 
mere month and a half of college. 
It was like slipping into summer. 
After all, last time I’d been 
home, it had been summer, free 
of worries, midterms and stress. 
Being back in that environment 
made it far too easy to fall back 
into the ways of lazy, hazy days: 
wake up at noon, scroll through 
Netflix, pick a movie because 
“TV shows are too much of 
a time commitment,” snack 
intermittently, 
stop 
halfway 

through out of boredom, pick 
another one, rinse and repeat.

The next day, I became a 

mall person, the same kind 
Cristina Yang marveled at like 
aliens in season seven of “Grey’s 
Anatomy.” Yes, I just moseyed 
and ate mall foods and bought 
mall things without having to 
worry about catching the last 
office hours before I had no 
more chances. And it was divine.

Until Fall Break came to 

an end, and my to-do list was 
longer than it had been before. 
As I buckled down in the library 
to catch up, I felt terribly guilty 
about wasting away the days of 
break while my friends stayed 
on campus and both studied 
and partied late into the night.

You 
see, 
home is where 

productivity goes to die. On a 
college campus full of students, 
there 
is 
a 
general 
vibe 
of 

studiousness and academia. There 

are countless libraries, 
academic 
buildings 

and 
study 
spaces 

guaranteed to have 
students hard at work. 
In that environment, 
surrounded 
by 
so 

many people studying, 
it’s hard not to join the 
bandwagon. In a study 
by the City University 
of 
New 
York, 

commuter 
students 

were interviewed, and it was found 
that many valued campus libraries 
as quiet, distraction-free places 
to study in comparison to the 
distractions in transit or at home.

Though its source may be a 

mix of peer pressure and fear of 
societal judgment, productivity 
on college campuses cannot be 
called a bad thing. However, 
I’ve seen that same mix of peer 
pressure and fear of societal 
judgment 
encourage 
toxic 

behaviors in the same stroke.

Snapchats of coffee at all hours 

of the day, complaints of staying 
in the library until 2, 3, 4 a.m. that 
hinge on bragging and offers of 
stimulants like Adderall are all 
common on a college campus, 
where everyone is trying to 
get ahead, sleep is “overrated” 
and success, sleep and sobriety 
are presumed to be mutually 
exclusive. Somehow, lack of sleep 
has become a badge of honor 
these days, and it’s turning high 
schoolers and college students 
into exhausted zombies who 
think a mere three or four hours 
of sleep is the norm.

A common exchange heard on 

campus goes as follows:

Person A: “I’m so tired. I stayed 

up ’til 3 a.m. writing a paper.”

Person B: “I’m worse than you. 

I didn’t sleep ’til 4 a.m. studying 
for an exam.” 

Person C: “You guys slept? 

Lucky. I pulled an all-nighter to 
finish this project.”

Somehow, 
it’s 
become 
a 

competition to see who can 
survive with the least sleep, and 
I’ve even been guilty myself of 
bragging about supplementing 
lack of sleep with unhealthy 
amounts of caffeine. However, the 
side effects of sleeplessness are 
more serious than the bleariness 
and exhaustion of the next day. 
Scientists at Oxford, Cambridge, 

Harvard, Manchester and Surrey 
universities have found that lack 
of sleep can increase the risk of 
severe health problems, including 
cancer, heart disease, type 2 
diabetes and obesity.

Moreover, sleep deprivation 

may aggravate depression or 
even cause an anxiety disorder, 
illnesses 
for 
which 
college 

students — swimming in stress 
and away from home — are 
already at risk. While night owls 
may believe that they are getting 
ahead by gulping coffee late 
into the night, they are actually 
slowly jeopardizing their health 
and, by extension, their future. 
Meanwhile, students who do get 
in their full eight hours of sleep 
are made to believe that they 
are weak or falling behind their 
peers. This sleep deprivation 
competition benefits no one.

Perhaps sleepless weeks would 

not be so harmful if students 
took their days off to relax and 
recharge, 
but 
unfortunately, 

most college students’ idea of 
“relaxation” 
is 
partying 
and 

drowning 
their 
stresses. 
It’s 

certainly not healthy for students 
to suffer through sleepless weeks 
with the promise of an alcohol-
fueled weekend pushing them to 
study into the early hours of the 
morning. By Sunday night, all 
the forgotten homework creeps 
up again, and students cram into 
libraries until dawn to make up 
for the wild weekend. And the 
toxic cycle of sleep deprivation 
and intoxication repeats.

So how, then, does one find the 

perfect balance between work 
and play? Take breaks when 
they’re needed and don’t feel 
guilty about it. Whether you’re 
returning home for Thanksgiving 
break or staying on campus, eat 
up, rest easy and forget about 
the stresses of school for a while. 
While schoolwork is important 
and the air of academia on campus 
is a wonderful environment to 
study in, it’s also important to 
take a break from time to time. 
Whether that break is becoming 
a “mall person,” sleeping in until 
noon or just going home, just 
remember that taking a breather 
isn’t equivalent to weakness or 
falling behind. Rather, it’s fuel for 
the future.

Ashley Zhang can be reached at 

azhang@umich.edu.

ASHLEY 
ZHANG

Though I 

think protests 
are beneficial 

strategies for any 
movement, it is 

worth noting that 
protests will only 

go so far.

