The Necessity of Taking a Leave

On July 6, the final examinations ended, and that very day I took the high-speed train home. The next day, July 7, during the daytime, I actually took five naps on and off. On the evening of July 7, my wife returned from a business trip to Qingdao; she was also very tired and went to bed early, so I followed suit and went to sleep at 8:30, waking to find it already broad daylight.

On July 8, I finally had the energy to go and look at the small vegetable plot I rent at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain. Because I had no time to tend it, the plot was overgrown with weeds; fortunately, the vegetables growing among the weeds were all very vigorous and had still borne a great many fruits. I picked twenty to thirty jin of vegetables and took them home in two large bags: more than twenty eggplants alone, more than fifty tomatoes, and no small amount of cucumbers, cowpeas, sword beans, malabar spinach, romaine lettuce, water spinach, and leaf lettuce.

Perhaps because I woke up with a stiff neck, or perhaps because I had overexerted myself recently, my right shoulder has been hurting badly these past two days, but I cannot be bothered to deal with it, and I cannot be bothered to work either. A person's life produces a great many transient symptoms; not every one needs medical treatment. When one is fatigued, rest is the best medicine.

Previously, living in Beijing with my family every day, I did not feel how precious family life is. Now, after going away to university for a year, my feelings about family life are quite different from before I went to school. I really very much hope to stay close to my family every day and fully enjoy the joys of family life.

My father is already old; since my third uncle passed away, my father has become quite subdued. He has mentioned matters of his own funeral to me several times, saying that his contemporaries have been passing away one after another, and that he is psychologically prepared for death. My father's change has made me realize that I must graduate from school as soon as possible and cannot lengthen the program. I must return to the family as quickly as possible, care well for the elderly, and keep my family good company; otherwise, later there will be no chance to accompany them.

Looking back on this past year, I am especially grateful to the teachers at the school; as an older student, I truly received many privileges. This year I learned a good deal at school; basically all of the basic preclinical subjects of Western medicine have now been covered. To be factual, the teaching level of our school's teachers is quite good. Perhaps precisely because they do not have to do so many academic projects or rush to write academic formulaic papers, the teachers at a school like ours can instead settle down to teach their lessons well and teach well.

I get along fairly well with all the teachers who taught me. Several of the teachers I met this year are of my own age; between us, besides professional exchanges, we can also discuss many other questions of life.

But to be honest, having been a TCM apprentice for many years, now that I am receiving formal academic education at a medical school, I can still feel that formal education has some shortcomings. To truly improve one's medical skill, one should not invest an excessive amount of time in formal schooling; learning in practice is far more effective.

Some middle-aged friends have, like me, returned to medical school to study medicine. I sincerely advise everyone that studying for a junior-college diploma is enough; after crossing that threshold, learning while practicing is the best. Do not waste too much time at school; devote more energy to clinical practice, where one can learn many more practical things. Long programs waste at least half of one's life.

Professor Ji Xiaolong, in an interview, mentioned that when he studied at medical school, the first semester was half a year of theory at school, the second semester was half a year of internship at a township-health-center-level institution, the third semester he returned to school, the fourth semester he interned at a higher-level hospital, the fifth semester he returned to school, and the sixth semester he interned at an even higher-level hospital. Altogether three years of study, one and a half of which was hospital internship. After finishing, he kept working and learning in the hospital, continuing to learn through practice.

I think this learning model is excellent; I do not know why our medical education no longer adopts this model, which is truly regrettable. Pure theoretical teaching, not combined with clinical reality, has very limited learning effect. Many medical students lose interest in continuing after one semester, developing weariness of study; skipping class and not looking up during lectures are very common.

Starting next semester, I will study pharmacology and the knowledge of the various clinical specialties; after finishing, I can enter the internship phase. I hope that over the next ten years I can further raise my clinical level in both Chinese and Western medicine through study and clinical practice. I hope to control the pace and manner of learning myself.

For these few days, I will just relax!