3 ms·

I recall in my younger (pre-college) days benefiting substantially from rubbing shoulders with kids whose parents were academics (not at any big-name schools --

I recall in my younger (pre-college) days benefiting substantially from rubbing shoulders with kids whose parents were academics (not at any big-name schools -- just regular, decent-enough state universities), and the substantial cross-pollination effect that had on my own development. And the idea that I myself, just might, if I really worked my ass off, be able to pursue their path -- was actually really incredibly inspiring. The wholesale evisceration of this group of professionals, as a class, as we have witnessed in the U.S. -- combined with the near-total demolishng of any genuine sense of hope for anyone seriously considering a career path in academia (even the best and brightest) -- cannot possibly bode well for society.

sid-kap 10y ago
If you don't mind, could you elaborate a bit? How was being around academics/children of academics beneficial to you? Did you end up going into academia, and did your experience with academia differ from the other experiences presented in this thread?
- kafkaesq 10y ago
  The one parent of mine who did have a degree got theirs in a STEM field, so exposure to the parents of some friends who had PhDs in the humanities (with books floor-to-ceiling, reading newspapers in languages with alphabets I had neither seen nor dreamt of -- this was pre-internet, and "middle America", to a first-order approximation, mind you) was quite an eye-opener. It was like they were just on different plane, intellectually (though also very grounded, and nothing at all like the detached, academic stereotype). I can imagine it might have mattered even more if they were math or science PhDs -- again, this was pre-internet; so I never heard of the International Math Olympiads until my later years of college, actually (way past the age when it would have mattered). I ended up not going into academia, but it was a serious consideration for quite a while (and yes, the early role models definitely helped).

sid-kap 10y ago

If you don't mind, could you elaborate a bit? How was being around academics/children of academics beneficial to you? Did you end up going into academia, and did your experience with academia differ from the other experiences presented in this thread?

kafkaesq 10y ago
The one parent of mine who did have a degree got theirs in a STEM field, so exposure to the parents of some friends who had PhDs in the humanities (with books floor-to-ceiling, reading newspapers in languages with alphabets I had neither seen nor dreamt of -- this was pre-internet, and "middle America", to a first-order approximation, mind you) was quite an eye-opener. It was like they were just on different plane, intellectually (though also very grounded, and nothing at all like the detached, academic stereotype). I can imagine it might have mattered even more if they were math or science PhDs -- again, this was pre-internet; so I never heard of the International Math Olympiads until my later years of college, actually (way past the age when it would have mattered). I ended up not going into academia, but it was a serious consideration for quite a while (and yes, the early role models definitely helped).