Today was my first day of TAing for an Introductory Biology class. I was kind of nervous about being with undergrads right out of high school, especially since about 75% of them were pre-med (thus, probably smarter than I). They were all very good kids, though, and had actually read the lab manual beforehand, so they easily answered questions like "What is life?" (The correct answer, as you all know, is "That which can be acted upon by natural selection.") It's hard not to laugh when a little undergrad pipes up with that answer, though. There is so much behind biology, and so much that we don't understand about how organisms are made, how they work, why they have the cellular structures that they do, etc., it is quite embarrassing to think that some of us think we have a definition for life. Sure, you can pick apart an organism, put it back together, describe all its organs and organelles, how they function, and possibly even name some of the genes behind it all, but only God knows why and HOW everything got started. That just blows me away sometimes.
My challenge this semester has been initiated by the finding that most of my students are pre-med. I have nothing against doctors, in fact, I tried to be one myself once upon a time. However, if you read Abi's blog, and if you talk to most doctors, you might find that so many of them are so incredibly boring and narrowminded. I am not saying that Abi is--I genuinely applaud her for questioning the way things are done at her school, and I think if she continues to do so, she will be in the minority of doctors who excel in their field yet have not lost their sense of humanity, not to mention their sense of excitement over things like traveling, politics, the arts, and reading (non-scientific books). I would agree that being able to waltz around singing songs while dissecting a cadaver is not normal. Granted, the spirit is gone from the body and all that's left is the decaying corpse that she describes (I won't go into details). Even when you know that, though, it's hard to dissociate that person who used to reside in the body from the body itself. I don't know if that makes any sense, but my point is, keep it up, Abi. Keep questioning the system, and don't let yourself be desensitized by the extreme environment you work in.
Back to my class--so here are all these little freshmen, wanting to become doctors. I think that's great, and I hope they all are able to stick it out. More than anything, though, I hope that they can learn to appreciate biology and creation (although I would get fired if I mentioned ANYTHING that made me sound like I believed someone created all of this), not because they are good at memorizing it and can pull off straight A's, but because it's so incredibly awesome the way everything is made. That is my challenge for this semester--to make them excited about their subject matter. If I can turn on the light in one of my 24 students' minds, I will be happy.
It's so frustrating, though, because in order to share my fascination for biology, I can't help but share about God who created it all.
Anyway, back to work. I am counting mycorrhizal roots. THere are lots and lots of them. With this type of mundane work, I can't help thinking deep thoughts about life, God, and of course, mycorrhizae. Have a great week, everyone.