Science Majors Should Think Differently

First about the science issue. I can't tell you how tired I am of people assuming I'm dumb because I'm not a science major. News flash -- all you snobby science majors: I'm sorry that science sparks not a hair of interest in me, but this in no way means that you are intellectually superior to me because cells and neurons excite you.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here and point out what all non-science majors know: Science majors don't just think they're smarter; they also assume that their classes are harder and their futures are brighter.

These people complain about spending hours in lab, studying their Thursday nights away and failing tests, but they have no sympathy for the academic plight of the rest of the students at this university.

Most of these pre-med schlunks are so caught up in their grade point averages and upcoming organic tests that they assume other classes are worthless.

The mentality held by these people is so deep-rooted that it affects everything they do. A close friend of mine won't even change her major from biology to psychology (which interests her more) because she says, "People will think I can't cut it."

The situation is actually kind of amusingly ironic to me. She is so caught up in the image of being a smart science major that she is basing the rest of her life in a major that she doesn't even like -- now that's dumb!

The second reason people assume I'm a moron is because I don't understand technology.

Actually, it's kind of pathetic. Here I am, a capable college senior at a pretty darn good university, and I can't figure out how to work the remote control to my television.

And I know I'm in bad shape because both my microwave and my VCR flashed 12:00 for a good part of the school year.

Sadly, it's not just my television or my microwave -- computers, cars, watches, DVD players, palm pilots, even clock radios simply baffle me.

But I haven't always been so technologically inept. I remember "getting" it at one time.

I wonder what happened. When did I become so technologically obtuse?

Maybe it was in high school when I decided not to ride "the wave of the future." I really had no desire to determine the difference between RAMs and bytes and hertz in the computers that were advancing daily. I knew the basics (i.e., I could operate my phone and my e-mail), and that was enough for me.

It wasn't a big deal that I spent one afternoon crying in the school parking lot because I couldn't get my car's engine to start. My dad drove 30 minutes from his work in the pouring rain to help me, only to point out that the car was not in park. Oopsies.

Nowadays it seems so much more of a curse not to understand technology. I swear at my computer on a regular basis for not obeying me, eating my disks and losing my files.

I have the basic necessities down though. Even when I'm drunk at 2 a.m., I can still get the TV on ESPN to watch SportsCenter. But that's about it.

I know what you're thinking. You're saying to yourself, "There is no way that this girl grew up in the 20th century or has half of a brain cell."

But you're wrong. I'm a certified '80s baby (I have the slap bracelet to prove it). I'm not from the Paleolithic period, and I know for a fact that there are many people out there just like me.

My point to this seemingly unrelated set of anecdotes is that maybe we should come to the realization that your self-worth can't be measured by your GPA, your ability to memorize the number of amino acids or how many megs of RAM are in your computer. Maybe we should stop stressing memorization and regurgitation and emphasize the importance of thinking, communicating and problem solving.

Technology and science aren't a fix-all for problems in society, and it's not going to help society or your job search efforts to have memorized useless facts and lack the ability to apply them to the real world.

Johanna Costa can be reached at costa@email.unc.edu.