As I've been thinking about potential research paper topics and exploring my curiosity, I've made observations about how I fit in to different academic communities and schools of thought.
What initially sparked these realizations was the activity we did in class on Monday, where we were asked to organize data in any way we saw fit, then asked to organize it into groups that could be used to tell a narrative or story. I noticed that the tree structure I used to organize the data in the first half of the activity - which organized the data into different categories from general to specific - was not used by many of the other students. This surprised me, because this method of organization felt so natural to me. Though I imagined my structure as a series of folders, like I organize files on my computer, I didn't feel that this organizational style came from my computer science background. In the second half of the activity, I found that this method of organization is not very conducive to constructing a narrative or coherent story from data.
To be completely honest, days in class like this often make we wonder where exactly my academic niche is. Though I enjoy math and the sciences, I don't often socialize well with the people who gravitate towards those majors due to their often reserved personalities. Maybe it's the musician in me, but I often feel that my right brain balances out my inner engineer, leaving me stuck somewhere in between the humanities and the sciences. In a competitive collegiate environment, where your major means everything, this inclination scares me.
I apologize for venting my concerns on this blog, but I found this interesting, and am wondering if any other students feel the same.
I feel like I am in exactly the same position sometimes! As a chemistry major and a musician as well, I find it hard extremely hard to argue sides in discussions. The analytic, chemistry side of me supports hard facts and evidence, proof as it were. The musician in me tends to gravitate towards feelings and ideals, which can make it difficult to stick to just one side!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe this comes as a disadvantage though. In fact, I wish more people were like this. I feel that having these opposite sides within us gives us better opportunity to connect with others and encourages viewing everything from several different angles. I certainly have my opinions and views, but I also feel as though the chemist and the musician in me encourage me to look at life through two different lenses.
Do our majors really mean everything? Do they truly encompass who we are as people? In high school, we always identified ourselves by grade level. I feel that our majors serve the same purpose. Yes, your major is important, but I don't feel that you are at a disadvantage by not being exactly like everyone else in your major. You major defines a part of you, not all of you. Luke is not just an engineer, he's an amazing musician as well, along with a pretty cool guy to talk with. I definitely wouldn't know that if all I knew was that Luke was a engineering major.
I hope this helps, or at least tells you that you aren't alone in how you are feeling.
Instead of either/or, how about both/and? Why not, say, be a scientist who loves to write short stories, or a musician who loves physics?
ReplyDelete