Hi everyone my name is Joshua Righter and I’m from York, Pennsylvania. I am currently a senior, who is studying accounting. I plan on getting my CPA, and we will see where I go from there.
I am taking this course, because I needed to fufill my last science credit for graduation. I chose this specific science course, because I’ve had friends, who have taken this course, and they reccomended I take this class. I am not planning to be a science major because of two reasons. One being I am a senior and an accounting major. Now, it is a little too late to change majors if I wanted to graduate on time. A second reason being, I have never done well in science courses I have taken in my entire learning career. This doesn’t mean I don’t like science. I find science very interesting to learn about, but I have always had teachers/professors, who require you to memorize and regurgitate facts. Judging from reading the syllabus and what Prof. Read has said already in class so far, this will not be the case. This is what makes me excited to be enrolled in this course. I already know I will actually learn something from this course, and not just forgetting what I learned months after the course ends.
I have always had a bunch of questions about science that I have never looked into yet, such as these. This course is perfect for learning about these unanswered questions in science.
I feel like I’m very much in the same boat as you; science intrigues me, but its something that I’m simply not talented at. So while I’m interested in science and it elicits some sort of passion in me, it’s not something I could make a solid contribution to society doing. Mike Rowe, the guy who hosts dirty jobs, made a very interesting statement a few months back on following your passion (http://freebeacon.com/culture/mike-rowe-on-following-your-passion/), essentially saying that there’s no use following a passion in a field that one has no talent in. Doing so would be as much an exercise in futility as the people who bomb the American Idol auditions every year and then are absolutely shocked that they’re not the next Kelly Clarkson. Luckily for me I happen to be very interested and passionate about a skill I am exceptional at, writing, and am here at PSU pursuing a degree in journalism. In journalism, particularly political journalism, as in science, questioning everything is a useful skill if not a prerequisite. One quote I take to heart in everything I do is from one of my personal idols, Thomas Jefferson: “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”