[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Feb 12, 2008 at 08:39:58AM -0700, Amara Graps wrote:

> Eugene, surely you know the grunt work that is involved in any
> scientific work. There are many avenues for teenagers to learn about a
> topic while doing grunt work, volunteering their time on such, while
> they still have a roof over their head paid by their families. It wasn't

It totally makes sense. It's just the world doesn't make too much sense,
these days.

> a miracle or a 'stunt' that I was at Palomar Observatory, volunteering my
> time, when I met my JPL boss; the astronomer I was helping came to my
> local astronomy club and asked for volunteers and I raised my hand. And
> I wasn't the first in my JPL group that got my JPL job at a young age
> and was publishing papers before my I earned my bachelor's degree, I was
> something like the fourth.

All true -- but this is 2008. A very different world. Have you come across
journeyman-style careers for *young* scientists lately?
 
> It doesn't seem like you are giving proper value to a young person who
> has passion; passion enough to try and learn about something to gain
> experience, right away. You should. Those are the years when such
> passion can go the farthest, the young person hasn't yet suffered enough
> disappointments to jade their world view and slow them down.

I agree 1000% -- but the world unfortunately doesn't. Not that my patch
of the world is representative, of course.

 
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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