Thats what my biology teacher asked me in 8th grade. She caught me reading a book on aeronautics and propulsion technologies. I was so excited to read about airplanes, jets, rockets, cryogenic engines, satellites etc., The teacher was busy teaching Principles of Genetics that day. I found it boring to learn about genes, alleles, dominant, recessive, blah blah blah...all that was Greek and Latin to me! I was confident I can go back home and read about it later (if it was absolutely necessary for the test/exams). That day I was more enthusiastic to learn about all the cool stuff... how things fly and which is the fastest man made engine.
The teacher caught me with me book... that was completely unacceptable to her. To her, learning Biology deserved undivided attention and due respect. So to embarrass me in front of the class, she asked me one of the problems she had just described on the board. Obviously, I hadn't paid any attention to what she was saying... so you can imagine what happened next. I hated Genetics!
Few weeks later I met a professor who taught Genetics at a college. He was very excited about Genetics and I think he was on a mission to teach Genetics to everyone who met him. He probably saw my distaste for it and took extra interest and gave me a classic book on Human Genetics (by Winchester). The word Human piqued my curiosity. A few pages into the book, I was completely hooked! Its was an old book and I was amazed by the depth of knowledge when it came to understanding human diseases. This made me read more and more books on Genetics.
My best moment came in a Biology class few weeks later. I pointed out a mistake and then explained an exception (to the rule) what the Biology teacher was teaching. I was super delighted to have learned something more than my teacher! Since then, I have never turned back. I have Masters in Applied Genetics and a Ph.D in Genetics and Molecular Biology... But I still love rocket science... I was in Washington DC twice and spent an entire day in National Air and Space Museum on both occasions ;-)
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So that is why they say "People who choose Math have bad Biology teachers and people who choose Biology have bad math teachers"!!
ReplyDelete:-D
Awww, I have to say jet perpulsion and stuff always seemed really interesting to me, but I was horrible at physics. I loved Genetics from the beginning though.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an amazing professor. Everyone should have someone like that at least once in their college career.