Friday, November 18, 2011

School: Take two

I chose to study liberal arts during undergrad because it was a subject area that I thought I might like and I thought it would be really easy. Since I worked during school, I needed to stay away from scary subjects like math and science, and I needed to load up on the classes that I could do in my sleep. History of Christianity? Easy. Spanish phonetics? Totally doable.

I was so wrong. Now, four and a half years after having received my BA, I'm back at it and taking only science classes. I'm doing so much better in the classes than I ever did in my undergrad classes, and they're making more sense to me than any of those so-called 'cushy' subjects ever did. I'm grateful that I have the liberal arts background, but I'm also grateful that I decided to go for it and take those 'hard' classes that I'd been avoiding for so long.

I think it's important to realize that 'hard' and 'easy' are relative. Many people have told me that organic chemistry is the worst class on the planet, but I absolutely love it. I didn't like Research Methods in Ethnic Studies and I don't understand how anybody could, but there's someone out there who can't get enough of it. And good for them. We've all got different strengths, and you never know what they are until you give yourself a chance and test them out.

Albert Einstein once said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Though Einstein might be the only fish who can climb trees and swim like he was made to do both, the advice is totally relevant. Find what you're really good at, and don't get discouraged if you fail once or twice during the search.

No comments:

Post a Comment