More med schools discriminated against female applicants: minister

Terrible about the discrimination against women - unforgivable. However, if someone doesn’t pass the exam by a second or third try, they’re unlikely to ever pass (based on evidence). So allowing four attempts is probably very fair to applicants. To mix the two issues is nonsensical - putting the exclusion criteria in the same story and suggesting they’re comparable is not only bad journalism, but an insult to the crimes that have been perpetrated against female applicants.

The rigging was aimed at keeping the proportion of women studying at the university at around 30 percent to prevent a shortage of doctors at affiliated hospitals, on the grounds that female doctors tend to resign or take long leaves of absence after getting married or giving birth, according to an internal report and university sources.

You wonder how other developed nations seem to manage so well without sexually discriminating against women's exam results.

Instead of allowing individual, corrupt institutions to set their own exams, there should be national exams and the medical schools should only be able to accept or reject candidates based on the results of the national exams. That will ensure equality and fairness, and put a stop to people paying for, or bribing, a place for their son.

Males who could be worse doctors are being promoted over females who could be better doctors

All people are equal. Nobody is inferior. Everyone should expect the same rights as anyone else and pass or fail on their own ability after getting the same training and education provided to all. Quota's are part of the problem.

All people are equal ?

I think that the OP was saying that all people should be equal in society because they are from a moral perspective, even if the reality fails to match this.

Ah_so, nations are judged by their deeds, not by their slogans. Makeup doesn't make you beautiful.

Akie, yes, I agree, but I think you got the wrong end of the stick. The "slogan" came from someone criticizing the attitude of the schools, not claiming that people are treated equally in Japan. This may have been lost because the post I replied to was moderated away, leaving it out of context.

Why would the schools admit to anything? That would require people to be honest.

Ah_so, nations are judged by their deeds, not by their slogans. Makeup doesn't make you beautiful.

Whaaaat? In Japan?? That is "problematic", but nothing will be done about it. NOTHING.

You wonder how other developed nations seem to manage so well without sexually discriminating against women's exam results.

Whether there is no discrimination in other "developed nations" is open to question.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/13/think-sexism-in-medicine-is-unique-to-japan-think-again

(Note: This article gets one thing very wrong. Tokyo Medical University is most definitely not one of the "most prestigious" medical schools in Japan. It actually ranks quite low in the pecking order.)

Medical school admission in the US and the UK is generally not based solely on objective examination scores. At US and UK prestige institutions all applicants tend to be extremely well-qualified in terms of paper test scores. Interviews and other mechanisms are used to decide who actually is accepted.

Showa University is also being accused of favouring applicants who have a family connection to the university. In the US, this is very widespread in the case of private universities. It is called "legacy admission" and is particularly prevalent in the Ivy League. This practice is generally accepted albeit not without criticism.