Allosaurus And Kinosaurus: The Purpose Of Education

There is just something about studying what you truly care about. No longer do academics feel irrelevant to your life. Instead you develop an interest in academically becoming the best you can. You can always learn what is required, and study what is necessary to succeed. You can learn a subject for one or two semesters just to forget it all a month later. If the purpose of education is enlightenment, why is it that the light seems to fade so fast? The problem is that you are using your brain to process and remember, and are not using your heart to absorb.

Natural history has always been fascinating to me. To clarify, natural history is the scientific study of plants and animals. However, natural history is based on observation and

My interests carried me farther than most other youth docents, but they would only carry me so far. Sure, it was impressive that during my interview that I was able to correctly answer questions about the museum’s content. However, in my opinion these questions were very simple. It wasn’t challenging for me to be able to comment on the differences between a mastodon and a mammoth, nor the difference between Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. My knowledge I revealed to the museum’s staff was like alcohol on a fire. While I may have shined brightly for a first impression, I was going to have to quickly add some fuel.

In order to sustain even the most meager standing of importance, I was going to have to learn. It was going to be different from what I had learned thus far in school. While I am not the pinnacle of academic example, I never really had to study to perform well. That was going to have to change; because, I was going to be allocating a lot more time to

I figured I would need to know about paleontology, geology, zoology, and biology to do well in a natural history museum. I wouldn’t have thought I would need to study anthropology, public speaking, customer service, physics, and more. I delved into the obscure. Try learning about Dendrochronology for a bit. In case you’re curious, Dendrochronology happens to be the historical study of tree rings. I never thought I would have to sit and study the scientific methods of dating tree rings, and using the information they provide. For the record, that “fact” about a tree ring representing one year of the tree’s life is wrong. Tree rings only show cellular growth, and the number of rings can vary widely regardless of the tree’s actual age.

It is the things you don’t think you need to know, but are willing to learn, that really move you forward. In my case it was learning about all the stuff I mentioned, tree rings included. Now that I am taking a formal physics class, I am regretting that I didn’t attempt to learn more. There was even a physicist that worked there. In hindsight, I should have asked him a lot more questions. Nevertheless, it was studying in my free time that had the most impact on me. While each of these disciplines had their own takeaways, it was the collectivity of it all that I still