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Does a Medical Education Make Us More Liberal?


People say that higher education is correlated with liberal beliefs. Based on my observation that seems to be true in a lot of cases. Most interesting to me though is that it seems Muslim docs, a group of people with high levels of further education, seem to be more liberal than other professionals. I think being liberal is good in a lot of ways. Living in this society it is important to be open minded and tolerant. It is a plus factor to be able to interact in any group without sticking out like a sore thumb. But being educated professionals, why does it seem like few docs have the courage to say "yeah I am the same as you but I am also different and I am proud of that?" What's the big deal in praying 5 times a day or taking an extra hour off for jumuah or explaining that we dont date in the way people date here because we reserve that kind of relationship for our spouses? We too are looking for our soulmates but we do it a different way. Is it something about the medical education that transforms our thinking and makes us move away from the more conservative religious and social values?

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Login to find out (April 7, 2006 at 5:49pm)
i dont know bout that - i think this is a huge generalization and you are comparing two seemingly unrelated topics as apples and oranges. i live in a pretty diverse and large community, and see all kinds of muslims in the hospitals here. tehre are docs that are practicing and there are others that might not be as comfortable wearing their faith on their sleeve (im trying to stay clear of the "liberal" and "conservative" label cuz i think its dumb). there are plenty of ppl that become stronger in their faith as they attain higher levels of education - they see the lessons, experiences, knowledge and wisdom attained as part of the 'ayat' or proofs of God's existence. other ppl might not make that connection at all and start getting a God complex. i just dont really understand your premise here. if this was such a problem, why would there be so many hadith about attaining knowledge and so many ayats from the quran telling us to reflect on the world around us (which i see as meaning educating ourselves about hte world). plus you are saying being "tolerant" is the same thing as being "liberal" - two other ideas thats are being compared but are not neccessarily on the same scale. tehre are plenty of ppl you might consider "conservative" who are tolerant of others. sorry, your question bugs me, its just chalked full of assumptions and generalizations!!! thats just annoying to me thats all.
 
Login to find out (April 2, 2006 at 7:39am)
education includes classes in sociology, history etc so it expands our exposure/understanding to different cultures and ways of life. that opens up thinking.

yes it seems to me that the more educated, the more liberal as a majority with exceptions of course. it seems u meet religious pple who are not well-educated or educated pple who are not very religious; almost inversely proportional.
 
Login to find out (January 29, 2006 at 8:19pm)
Throughout the world, education makes societies more liberal. Just compare the red and the blue states. Or, look at India now. The more educated, the more resources, the more liberal. . Medicine is no different, just another wonderful microcosm of today.