Dem
47
GOP
53
Here is the question we put before readers over a month ago:
S.H. in Duluth, MN, asks: After reading the responses to the reader question of the week from M.R. in Lowell, I was wondering if I could get the other side of it. I'm a young student who has just started my first semester of university this fall, studying earth science. I was wondering if I could get any advice or suggestions about things I could be doing in college, or stuff that I should avoid doing.
And, for ease of access, here are links to this entire "series":
And now, the final set of answers:
A.T. in Elkton, MD: I've spent the last 4 years in the classroom teaching (with many years before that as a grad student, also teaching) and I have a number of thoughts on your question, but it really comes down to this for me:
Allow yourself to be engaged, allow yourself to be fascinated. It's very easy in the post-COVID period for classrooms to feel even worse than Zoom rooms because no one wants to speak, no one wants to engage. Your education is not a passive activity—it is not a YouTube playlist that you have to show up for every other day. So often have I looked out at my students and even a simple question like "How's it going today?" is met with silence because no one wants to engage, no one wants to appear like they care.
Be engaged. If something is interesting to you, say so. If something is boring to you, find out WHY you are bored. You have discovered maybe 5% of the things you will in this life—but it's very cool to appear bored, very cool to seem unengaged.
I get it: We were all young too. Classes seemed dull and all you could think about was the party over the weekend. But higher ed isn't just a financial investment to be counted in its economic rate of return. It's also a place to develop your mind, to learn new things, to start thinking about the kind of adult you want to be because, guess what: You're doing it now.
Also: Find your fellow nerds. Find the people (it won't happen overnight and it REALLY won't happen if you sit in your dorm room/apartment) that let you feel like you, that make you feel like you're at home. Actually, this might be more important.
And good luck!
B.D.M. in Tempe, AZ: My tip to students: The full-time college instructors have office hours, when anyone can come in and talk with them, often without any appointment. It can be free help, with no penalty. The instructor will probably respect you MORE for asking. You can find out details, or what they think was the main point of the day, or anything else. Even: How do I get started on this homework problem? Or, I think I did everything here, but it's not working out? Find an excuse to go ask something early in the term. It might make the course more interesting, too.
L.D. in Oceanside, CA: Consider narrowing your field of study to a discipline in which you can receive a professional registration. In California, one can become a Professional Geologist, Certified Engineering Geologist, Certified Hydrogeologist or Professional Geophysicist. Many documents submitted to regulatory agencies require a registered professional stamp and signature. Becoming registered typically requires approximately 5 years of work experience, then passing a series of state-issued tests. Requirements vary by state. Having a registration should increase your long-term marketability.
I did not know this when I started studying earth science in the early '80s. I received my degree in geology, became a Professional Geologist, and enjoyed a rewarding career.
Find passion in your studies. Enjoy the journey.
M.A. in Park Ridge, IL: I have been a college (and law school) student. I have raised college students. I have taught college students. I have one piece of advice: If you have not started doing so already, keep a diary. You'll be amazed by how much you'll love it 30 or 40 years from now.
C.S. in Waynesboro, PA: Do not do indulge in too much alcohol or partying, especially on nights before you have classes.
Do get involved in whatever interests you on campus. Multiple things, in fact. I spent most of my college years commuting from my home 45 minutes away. As soon as the classes were over, I hopped in the car and went home. I did not develop friendships and missed out on a lot of the college experience.
And whatever you do, just have fun doing it.
S.N. in Sparks, NV: As you have probably found out already, college is not high school, so be prepared to work much harder. Developing good study habits from the start will save a lot of stress later. The reward is that you can start to learn subjects in much more depth.
Explore topics other than Earth Science. During my first 3 years of college I was mostly focused upon History (my major) and Theology (in preparation to be a Roman Catholic priest). In my senior year, however, my interests exploded in multiple directions and it changed my life.
Learn how the university library operates and who the librarian is for Earth Science. Librarians who work with particular academic departments (aka liaison or reference librarians, or subject specialists) tend to be service-oriented and know how to find information. As a former academic librarian, talking with students about their research projects and teaching research skills were the favorite elements of my job.
Get to know people of varying backgrounds, whether that is by gender, race, ethnicity, international, or socioeconomic status. If possible, participate in a study abroad program.
Lastly, have fun!
T.L. in West Orange, NJ: This was not originally my suggestion, but it's one that I heard from writer David Brin back in the '90s at some public talk, and it's always stuck with me. I doubt this is the phrasing I originally heard, but it's something I found that he said during an interview just a couple of years ago:
Each month, take a map of your campus. Throw a dart at it. Wherever the dart lands, go to the nearest building, stand outside, roll dice, go to the random floor you chose, throw a ball down the hall! Or pick some other way to choose a random room. Knock on that door, and say, "Excuse me, what do you do here?"It's amazing the things you can learn that way that you never expected to.
T.B. in Leon County, FL: Oooh, earth science! I'm retired now, but I was a geology student back in the day.
Some things just have to be memorized: sedimentary grain sizes; Mohr's hardness scale; minerals, their chemistry and where, how and with what other minerals they form; the geological time scale. The more fluid your internalization, the easier it is to hold things in context. I've heard that learning GIS is a must now.
Get a feel as to what can happen in 1 k (years), 1 ma, 1 ga. Practice seeing changing opaque things in 3-D (including the insides), turning them around in your mind. Get a handle on processes that happen at high pressure and/or high temperature (not in Kansas anymore!). Picture processes that happen in a day being repeated over decades/centuries/millennia. Some things change (the length of a day), some things never change (gravity).
And then there's the personal touch. My grandfather was the Chairman of the Committee on the Measurement of Geological Time and wrote in his 191-page report in 1954, "If earth (as we now think) is c.3500 m.y. old..." This was the understood age when I started university nearly 20 years later (understandably—rounding errors, you know); but when I finished studying, the sphere we live on was 4500 ma. It is now known to be c.4540 ma. Obviously it took me a long time to finish my studies, and that happened a long time ago, so take my advice with a bit of halite [NaCl, isometric crystal system, hardness 2+, cleavage perfect in all 3 directions, vitreous white when pure, taste, color and cubic crystals are diagnostic, evaporate...], maybe with a margarita when you are of age.
Earth science is now a more mature field of study than when I (or my parents, both geologists) were students—more numerical, less observational in nature, but the big pictures will still need to be in your gut or in your soul. (My grandfather was a chemist-geochemist, so he was all about careful process and precision in the lab. To some degree, of course, that's always been important.)
Most important (to some): Geologists tend (tended?) to be more beer drinkers than mixed-drink connoisseurs, although I did run into some wine aficionado geologists in Australia at an IGC. One of my professors, "the late Dr. Smith" (late, sometimes very late, to class on occasion) was a favorite to go out in the field with, according to my father, as he was a teetotaler and made the ideal designated driver at the end of the day. (Never once did I use this service.)
W.V. in Andover, MN: To S.H., a fellow Minnesotan... we don't always realize it here in the Upper Midwest, but we're often more insulated and less cosmopolitan than our fellow Americans growing up on the two coasts. I've realized my biggest regret is not having taken advantage of a year's study overseas that many colleges offered then, and continue to do today. I can't imagine anything better for a budding Earth Science major than a year in Australia or China or one of the Scandinavian countries that many in Minnesota have ancestors from.
T.M. in Pompeii, MI: From someone who failed to achieve a 4-year degree, the key piece of advice is to take full responsibility.
Accept that you are totally responsible for getting what you want from college. There are many pitfalls, and opportunities, for a young person suddenly with no guardrails and thousands of choices. The extent that setbacks and roadblocks are met with thought and effort will be the extent you succeed.
Your path through college will change as you learn more about your interests. abilities and yourself. Work hard to know yourself, it will save much grief. Spend some time thinking about yourself and especially how you approach problems and goals. Hopefully you already have some good insights based from life so far.
I simply started college because of an assumption that was the best thing, and a lot of ego. But did nothing to objectively evaluate my situation and mindset, over time, and missed the spiral into failure. And the changes that could have been made to return to a success path. Be deliberate in your choices.
A solid plan is your main responsibility. Take advice from parents, teachers, academics, those who know you well, etc. But listen to yourself foremost. Mold accordingly. Review a written plan at least weekly. A semester is a very short span of time. Are your goals still sufficiently motivating to make all worthwhile? Do you need help with anything? Do you need a moral or focus booster?
Avoid falling into a party-until-you-flunk-out crowd. Even if lonely at times and feeling like you are missing out, consider you are responsible for everything now. Your time, your effort, your rest and nutrition, your success. It is a fine line between a bit of youthful indulgence and a drag on your ability to get best grades. Instead seek out the many and diverse clubs and interest groups on campus. Clean fun isn't as stimulating but pays better rewards and greater satisfaction over time. Youth would not be youth without a bit of indulgence, but use some common sense.
Be careful about any activity or involvement that would normally be uncomfortable or unethical. It can lead to trouble. The Civil Rights era was a time of good trouble, but costs were sometimes high.
You will meet the most idealistic, earnest, hardworking and effective people you will be lucky to find in the same density and accessibility ever again. Seek them out. Let their joy in doing rub off on you.
But just as you have virtually no more guardrails, neither have the crass, the lazy, the needful and the downright villainous. Of those select gems of humanity that make it past freshman year, you have a natural selection of stronger predators. Beware. Be wary. Who would make a better lifelong friend, spouse or mentor? Jefferey Epstein or Steve Jobs? Laura Loomer or Greta Thunberg? This can most definitely follow well beyond the college years, and may well make or break you. Select carefully.
Use the college writing and speaking practice opportunities to give yourself the strongest possible communication skills. They are the leverage you need to rise above the average at work and socially.
Good luck, good skill, take a minute every day to think about how unique and wonderful the college experience is. Give yourself time to recharge, refresh and reset. After all, it's your responsibility.
P.S. Just a personal note. You are at a good age to read Steppenwolf. Herman Hesse. Hope you do.
T.K. in Boulder, CO: In my 4th year of undergrad, I was turned away from the 400-seat lecture hall for History of Rome and directed toward an overflow room. I was bummed because I wanted to enjoy this class; I had taken a Philosophy class the year before and thought some extra context would be valuable (both classes were part of my Computer Science "Humanities" undergrad requirements). I knew that such a big class was unlikely to be as interesting as I hoped. But, I couldn't graduate without it, so what choice did I have?
Then it hit me: I could not graduate without it. Or in other words, they couldn't make me leave unless I took and passed this course. I had resigned myself to not finishing the digital art certificate, but now there was the opportunity to do that, plus the Networking class, and Intro to AI! So I dropped the course. The next fall, I got all those classes plus traded Rome for a 30-student Japanese Literature in Translation to finish my humanities requirement. It was very interesting, highly recommended.
I had to work extra hard that summer to afford it, so this isn't advice in the classic sense. I'm past 42 now so I'll dredge a lesson out of it: College is a time to realize that your life is in your own hands, and the tried-and-true path may not be for you.
D.A. in Brooklyn, NY: Unfortunately (and fortunately) eventually you graduate from college. Then comes "the rest of your life." Learning doesn't end with college, but there are some subjects that are super-difficult for most people to learn outside of a structured college course. That's why I tell my CS students: Take fewer CS electives and more Math. Having an interest in the subject and knowing that the instructor(s) is(are) "good" are important criteria in course and major selection—but try to embrace the difficult. Don't worry (within reason) about what it will do to your GPA.
Here is the question for next week:
J.H. in Portland, OR, asks: We've seen how many of the Electoral-Vote.com faithful are connected to the computer sciences and now I'm wondering how many are involved with ham radio. I ask this because I wonder if there is a correlation between technical curiosity and experimentation, and the awareness and interest in political events. Or between other areas of interest and interest in political events.
So, I would like to know: What are Electoral-Vote.com readers' hobbies?
Submit your answers to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "Leisure Where?"!