I'm beginning to think the clueless undergrad doing research is an essential part of any grad student's learning process. Like the Sarah Palins of academia, they teach you to laugh at the things that should technically fill you with the most despair.
Most importantly, they are good reminders of exactly how stupid people can be, and why warnings like " May contain peanuts" are to be found on a pack of peanuts.
I've only encountered two specimens so far, and until now they have given me NO hope for the future of science. Or geography, for that matter. (All this enlightenment apart from completely messing up my work, of course.)
A few snippets -
"Sooo... Singapore... isnt that like a city in Thailand?" (This from a person whose greatest claim to fame is having seen the ACTUAL Mona Lisa. Don't ask her who the artist was.)
"The bottles of solutions in the autoclave? I put them in the drying oven... isn't that where you put things after sterilizing them?"
(Yes, exactly. I spent two hours making these solutions up and adjusting pH just so that you could dry them down to salt-encrusted films at the end of my ridiculously long Friday.)
Argh. I don't remember my generation ever being so collectively dumb, even in our teens. I'm as confused about these kids as they're clueless about common-sensical things- What happened to them?
5 comments:
Oh wow... that can be incredibly frustrating! :(... But you know, I've had the luck to work with pretty smart undergrads... or maybe my prof did a good job of screening :)
Probably! These are just random specimens that show up in my department with the sole purpose of playing havoc... :D
hehe...atleast they entertain :D
i agree with u.. common sense is more lacking today.. and even i wonder why.
These kids grew up texting their friends in the next room, playing video games all day, and on the computer constantly. They lack face to face personal interaction and conversational skills. I don't think anyone ever told them to think before they spoke....
Post a Comment