CompuServe Messages

Bob, I was class of '75, Rutgers College. You may remember, from your history courses, that Rutgers College went co-ed in 1971. As a result, I had a few distractions from academia and my scientific interests. I started off as a biology major, but I transferred to philosophy as an upper classman. I had a serious love interest at Franklin and Marshall, so I never really got the lay of the land in New Brunswick until I was in my junior year. Somehow, I managed to squeak through Rutgers without taking a geology course. [Heavy Sighs.] Only recently, while I was in New Brunswick for a trial call in the Middlesex County Courthouse, did I have a chance to check out the geology and paleontology museum on Old Queens. It has a good sampling of New Jersey minerals, especially from the Watchung flows. Now that I am an old man, I appreciate Rutgers a great deal more than when I was a young snot. Whenever I am out driving with my children, and we pass through New Brunswick, I stop on campus to give them the "lecture" about what a good (and inexpensive) school Rutgers is, and how I met their mother on Campbell 6. On the latter point, however, the children get the expurgated version. In any event, they could do a lot worse than go to my alma mater. The Science campus at Busch in particular is really impressive; it rivals Wisconsin and Michigan for its depth of facilities. Defining objectives for earth science (or other) students? I am sure, from my own experience as a student and later as an instructor at the Law School, that most students define their objectives or goals in terms of careers. Making a living is very important, especially to the middle class kids who show up at a state university, but fixation on this goal can ruin a college education. Not only can it lead you to forgo the fun but it can also drive you into a narrow path of course work to qualify you for a job. One of the truly neat things about Rutgers, and most universities, is the breadth and depth of learning in all departments. I have seen too many scientists who can't write their way out of a paper bag, or even reason cogently outside their narrow discipline as a result of a single minded determination to get into professional school or get a job in a certain field. The goal of a university is to produce educated people. These kids will have a life time to become proficient and distinguish themselves in a career. They may never have the leisure time again to read and study the great works of western civilization. A pretty scary thought, and one that automatically suggests reordering a student's priorities. Nathan