I have put off doing one of these for a long time because I always feel like I am not learning anything relevant to write about. Yes, I can write about how I have learned about cellular transport or memorized a chemical reaction named after some French guy, but I feel like that stuff doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. One thing that I have learned recently (or rather finally realized) is just how lucky I am to have amazing professors in my major classes. I realized this when my friend Brad showed me some of his material for his MCAT prep course. I was skimming through when I realized that thanks to the dedication and hard work of my professors, I knew almost every topic- and well. This would not be possible if I had unmotivated professors like some of my friends that go to different universities. I feel so lucky to have this to my advantage.
A more lighthearted topic that I recently learned about in my behavioral research class is just how much companies manipulate statistics and studies to lie to customers. I've always noticed that every toothpaste brand is recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists, but I never really thought about this. The companies that we trust to provide us with quality products are just overpaying some statistician to manipulate studies and bend the results to make their product seem better than it is. If you ever get a free moment, I recommend reading How to Lie With Statistics. It is a quick read (about 100 pages with pictures) and you can download the pdf for free here https://archive.org/details/HowToLieWithStatistics.
Now that I realized how much relevant information I actually learn on a regular basis, I look forward to writing my next learning experience post.
I am also a biology major (I'm assuming you are?) and had a similar realization of how great our bio program is here at TCU last semester while I was taking Molecular Bio. In our class, we had several grad students who had attended other universities for undergrad. Some of the concepts we were learning or lab techniques we did they had not previously been exposed to. The fact that, as undergrads, all of the TCU students were able to learn and comprehend the material at the same level as the grad students was encouraging! It made me realize that the difficulty level of our classes is worth it--maybe?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you man.. There is not much I'm learning about that I feel is worth making public but I think you're right about the professors here at TCU. They are truly talented and know what they are talking about. You don't find this on all campuses around the country, its pretty special.
ReplyDeleteHaha your second point is so true. The marketing schemes that people use these days are pretty ridiculous. You honestly couldn't really tell a Crest commercial from a Colgate commercial which shows how surface level our marketing has become. The sad thing is our society still purchases all these products.. Smh.