I have just seen that another reason I dislike standard academic advice: I have been up for tenure since I was born, practically. I know the script so well that I cannot stand it. I am reading a piece in a journal where a friend of mine in college had an internship. It is a great journal, exciting to read and it would have been exciting to intern there.
I remember when she heard she had the internship, how pleased she was. I thought: “This is nice if that is what she wants to do, but really we should be spending all the time we have on our classes, and not distracting ourselves at all until after we graduate.” And in harmony, I also thought: “It is wonderful that she can do that and do school, but I, of course, must be more conservative with my time since I do not yet know how capable I may or may not be. Surely I need to reserve all my time for my classes, so I can be sure to pass — and not be thrown out of the university.”
I was, I have just realized, applying the get-tenure advice to an undergraduate career. I was also opting against the other advice I had received, which involved taking a lot of freshman courses in a lot of disciplines and going out a lot — having a “college experience,” as they put it now. But mostly I was applying the get-tenure advice, and this is advice I have gotten very tired of by now.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 