rev bras ortop.2016;51(4):383–384
SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE ORTOPEDIA E TRAUMATOLOGIA
w w w . r b o . o r g . b r
Editorial
Unequal
RBO
RBO
desigual
Equalityisoneofthemostintriguingutopiasweseek,because itdoesnotexistinanythingthatpertainstolivingbeings.The mainfeatureoflivingthings,whetherinformorcontent,is theirdifference.
Ethnic,climatic,cultural,andsocialdifferencescontinueto besomeofthemainreasonsfortheproblemsandsolutions wehavetolivewith.
There is a group of theorists who, whether for love of utopiasorforinterest,preachequalityandseektoenforceit withthedetermineduseofpowerbytheso-called disadvan-taged,who arethe majority.Thesepolitical groupsusethe electoralsupportofthenumericalmajority;thus,a qualita-tiveminoritydominateselectivepublicofficesandseeks to imposeanequalitythatisalwaysbasedonthelowestcommon denominator.
Wesee this inourarea ofinterest,education, withthe creationofso-calledracialquotas,which,basedonthefact that some ethnic group has the largest number of disad-vantaged, provide that all those belonging to this group are considered incapable and therefore protected through advantagesinthe university admissionprocess, for exam-ple.Theablemembersarealsostigmatizedwithfavoritism, which will mark of all professionals from the “protected” ethnicity.
Thetitlesofexpertiseinnumerousareasofmedicineare nowconferredafteraninternshipatoneoftheexcellent pub-lichospitalsfromtheBrazilianUnifiedHealthSystem(Sistema ÚnicodeSaúde),whichgoesagainstdecadesofrefinement thatthemedicalsocietieshavegonethroughtoimprovetheir qualifyingexams.
Evenqualified residenciesare sufferingfrom this harm-fulinfluence,asforeachyearofmilitancy,workinginfamily healthcare under the More Doctors program, a percent-ageincreaseisbestoweduponthe scoreofthecandidate’s entranceexamforagoodresidencyprogram.
Thus,themedicalgraduateswhospendoneyear attend-ingtoProgramadeValorizac¸ãodaAtenc¸ãoBásica(PROVAB) inhealthcarecentersthatarenotequippedforbasic health-carewillhavean10%advantageintheirresidencyadmission scoreagainsttheir“non-peers”who soughttocomplement theirmedicaltrainingattheendoftheircourse,ashasbeen thecaseforover50years.
The latestforay is inthe area ofeducational curricula, which havebeen adaptedtolower levels, sothat the “dis-advantaged” could competeon equalterms withthe most talented.ThiswouldbesimilartotheOlympiccommittee set-ting themarkforthe 100metersto20seconds,sothat the slowerrunnerscouldcompeteonequalterms.
Wearenowintheoppositestreamofhistoryasweseek excellenceforRBO;ourrefusallevelshavereached40%.What occurred wasan impressiveimprovementinthe qualityof the studies,aswellasincreasingdemandbyauthorstobe publishedinRBO.Insixyears,wehaveanalyzedover1700 studies.
We could have created quotas and accepted, without scrutiny,low-qualitystudiesfromregionsconsideredtohave lower standards. We would have made a severe mistake if we had stigmatized and divided the journal into two sections, good and bad studies; obviously, no one would readthe badstudiesand wewouldhavecondemnedsome groups to be always considered inferior, for reasons such as geography, which are not related with the quality of a study.
Throughout this long journey of editing RBO, we have observedthattheseprotectionphilosophiesare completely misguided,aswehavehadgoodstudiesproducedinregions that are theoreticallyless fortunate, as wellas low-quality studiesfromcentersconsideredtobeofexcellence.
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rev bras ortop.2016;51(4):383–384Thisstrangephilosophyofprotectingtheworstand pun-ishing the best,so that atsomepoint theybecome equal, hasnotyetreachedtheeditorialarea.Thismaybebecause theoreticiansofthislineofthoughtreadverylittle.
Luckyus!
GilbertoLuisCamanho RevistaBrasileiradeOrtopedia,Brazil E-mail:gilbertocamanho@uol.com.br
2255-4971/©2016PublishedbyElsevierEditoraLtda.on behalfofSociedadeBrasileiradeOrtopediaeTraumatologia. ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBY-NC-NDlicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rboe.2016.07.002
