Learning by Humiliation

In the good old days, medical students used to get "taught by humiliation". The consultant would cram as many students around the patient as possible, and then unleash a machine-gun tirade of impossible questions that even the registrar might find difficult to answer. The point was that the students would be so overcome with humiliation and guilt that they would rush home and spend overnight sessions crushing as much information into their heads as was humanly possible. I have it on good authority that the doors to the student slums were locked until everyone in the room could recite the 300 causes of clubbing off-hand.
Nowadays, we have it easy. In comparison, anyway. Although our consultants occasionally throw their arms in the air and do little irritated dances demonstrating their abject horror at our ignorance, we are generally treated with a fair amount of respect. In my opinion this is a good and a bad thing. I'm pretty sure medical students are generally happier and more secure in themselves than they were before, and they might even feel a little more in tune with the thought of becoming doctors one day. But on the other hand, the lack of bollockings might serve to make us a little too complacent, and may even remove the drive to work hard altogether. I know for a fact that if I was told that I was shite at medicine 5 times a week I would work harder, although I might just jump off the Civic Centre tower instead.
The old system certainly sorted the wheat from the chaff, and would no doubt get rid of a few of the shall we say, less aspiring members of our year. I remember earlier this year when an SHO looked straight down his nose at a weak-voiced girl in my group and boomed "what antibiotic do you give for a viral infection?". Obviously, antibiotics treat bacteria and not viruses, so it's a trick question. The SHO was actually kidding and pretending to be a hard-arsed bastard, but the girl shrank to the size of a pea and let the ground swallow her up nonetheless. She would never have guessed how much thicker her skin would need to get to be a good doctor, but she learnt that day.
In the meantime, I'm glad to be pottering along, managing my own learning, as we are so often encouraged to do. The occasional ball-blending session keeps me on track, but I'm just glad I don't get squashed to a pulp on a timetabled basis.