With regards to the letter Patriotism doesn't mean being a 'yes man', nobody is asking anybody to be a government yes-man. In fact, if you have any love for your country, you will be in the way of the current ruling elite way more often than not.

Who is the one mixing up the issues here?

It is true that there are policies in this country that stink to high heaven. But that doesn't make the claim that 'the government is stopping you from doing 'great' things true.

In the world we are living in, many are being denied the opportunity to live up to their potentials. Equal opportunity is never equal, we just try to make it more so.

Workers who learn how to butter up the boss more often than not get that promotion rather than the staff who is more politically correct. A contractor with the right connections get the deals. So what if you have proved your capability in your work ie, scoring As in exams?

It is definitely rotten, but the mentality that only doctors contribute to the society must be addressed. At the end of the day, we only can have so many places to do medicine in the public institutions.

Already, awarding these places carte blanche to students with the highest number of As reeks of superficial selection procedures. You don't get to be a doctor just because you have more As than the other guy.

That is the real, sad story of the 128 students who were initially 'denied' a place last year to study medicine at public varsities.

I am certainly sick of students who think that some subjects are beneath them. If you don't like it, that's fine. Everyone has their own interests and personal pursuits. However, to treat other fields of study with contempt is certainly wrong.

If you really want to be a doctor, and you're not selected to do it at public institutions of higher learning, then you can always turn to other avenues to fulfil your dreams. Many people don't get to become the man or woman of their childhood ambitions, and it is not fair to blame the government for it.

Yes, our current government has not been able to be thoroughly accountable, fair and transparent, but that's not an excuse for myopic views of what constitutes a contribution to society. Period.

Our society needs more volunteers, in particularly for social issues and problems, rather than more all-A students who feel that they cannot make 'great' contributions because they are not doctors.