When Other People Get Colds.....We Get Pneumonia

I guess it is only right that my 100th post would be my first post in about 2 years.  I have been telling myself that I would be get back to blogging for a long time, but I have not had the adequate motivation to return.....

At least not until today.

Before I get started I am going to start by saying that I am going to fill in the gaps intermittently as I continue posting.  It would be boring to just fill in all of the gaps in one long post.  My idea is, as I post I will be able to relate whatever I am posting about to something that has happened recently. 

Anyhow....let's get started.

Presently I am back at my alma mater (North Carolina A&T State University) teaching Physics labs and assisting with the recruitment efforts of the department.  We are attempting to increase the number of under represented groups in physics.  When you last heard from me I was studying at The Pennsylvania State University working on my Masters in Geosciences.  I have successfully attained that degree, and after three years I am happy to be closer to home.

During my time at Penn State I taught Introduction to Geology labs and had the opportunity to interact with the students on the same level that I am interacting with the students here at A&T.  Conventional wisdom would tell you (though that wisdom is COMPLETELY incorrect) that the students at a PWI would be LEAPS and BOUNDS ahead of the students a HBCU, especially in the areas of science and math.  Many people would lead you to believe that if a student wants to get ahead in life then an education at a PWI is the correct route to take.  I do not want to address the latter assumption, though I'm sure I will eventually, I will address the former.

When it come to BASIC mathematical and scientific concepts students EVERYWHERE are not coming into college with an adequate amount of proficiency.  I can not speak for the skills of students at the time of graduation because the labs I have taught are taken within the first two years of entering college.  I CAN say with a fair amount of confidence that kids are not getting any smarter, but I do not know if they are getting more stupid.

My issue does not come from the fact that the students do not know the material.  Ignorance is a problem that is easily fixed with study and hard work.  I start to become irritated when the student does not know the material, does not want to learn it, and does not see why they need to know it.  Hence the title of this post.

When I taught the geology classes at Penn State there were some students in the class that CLEARLY would never use geology in life (like the business majors), but there were some where it would definitely become necessary for them to access some geological knowledge (like civil engineers).  There were some that did need geology knew they needed it and tried hard to learn it and typically did well in the class.  Then there were some that needed it but did not know they did.  That always lead to me explaining to them how geology would help them sometime in the future.  Most accepted it, some didn't, that is expected.

Here is the difference.

The scenario is EXACTLY the same at A&T except for the fact that the students WILL NOT accept the fact that physics is important to their academic development.  In what universe is physics not important in architectural engineering?  mechanical engineering? any kind of engineering?  Why is learning about circuits not important to someone who's major is computer science?  How can you manage a construction site without knowing basic information about force and angles?  These are the question I ask myself whenever I hear, "Why do I need to know physics?"  or "I will never use this stuff again."

I am not discussing aptitude.  The students are more than capable of doing the work.  I am worried about the laziness and the unwillingness to learn something that is challenging.  I have had several conversation with professors that have been teaching for years, and they are stumped on how to alleviate the problem.

I am done for now, but I am sure that I will revisit this in the near future.

Happy 100th post to me.

~sTeW~

Making a Comeback!

STAY TUNED!

The Reason

Unless it's fatal...It's no big deal.

This is really how I feel about most things in my life.  I try not to worry myself with thing that do not directly affect me.  To some people this attribute is very annoying because to them I do not care about them and most things that they do.  I can not argue against that, because most time this is definitely the case.  Another great fact about the way I operate is that I tend not to get upset/angry about anything.  The worst I will ever get is really annoyed.  Some could argue that annoyance can be equated to anger, I rebut that by saying that anger tends to stick around while annoyance comes and goes.

"You're rambling again.  Could you please get to the point."

All of that to say, I truly do not care about what people do or say, but I do tend to concern myself with WHY they do or say the things they do.  To me the REASON is much more important than than the action itself.  For example, how many times have you taken your frustration out on someone who did not deserve it?  Everyone has done it at least once, and they have been forced to apologize to the person who received the misdirected WRATH of an angry person.  After you apologize and explained why you were feeling the way you were, I am sure they recipient of said anger quickly forgave you and you continued watching Fresh Prince reruns and eating ice cream.

In a way I think this make me a little too forgiving sometimes because in the past I have allowed people to say some off the wall stuff to me, but forgave them because their frustration did not stem from me.  I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.  On the other side of the coin, I have written people off completely for something very minor because of the REASON why they did it.  I truly believe that you can do some very horrific things and it be valid because of the REASON why you did it.  This make me think of the upcoming movie Law Abiding Citizen.  From what I gather from the previews, it seems as if a guy kills the people who killed his family.  And I think he does it in a pretty gruesome way.  In my head, and I am sure in most people's heads, killing someone who killed your family deserves a standing ovation, not life in prison.

"It seems to me that trying to figure out why someone does something is a waste of time.  Most of the time people do things 'because they want to' and that is basically it.  9 out of 10 times people's gut reactions are they way they really feel.  I would much rather go off of someone's first response than give them an opportunity to talk their way out of it.  Mom & Dad always told us to THINK about what you are going to say before you say it."

Though I do not LIKE most people, I have always been interested in studying people and understanding how individuals work. 

I guess this is just a part of that.

NEXT UP.... PATTERNS

~sTeW~