I don't know why, but I can't stop learning. I'm also the type to volunteer for things that I don't get compensated for, at least financially, in the hopes that I will learn something or help someone else learn something. It's not always science, my interests are almost limitless. In addition to all things science, I'm interested in history, place-based culture, food, wine, cooking, art, writing, and much more.
I know a few people in the startup business community who call themselves 'serial entrepreneurs,' and I guess you could say I'm a serial student. I'm privileged in many ways, having been born as a white female in the United States, and having an upbringing that provided me with enough food and household security that I was able to focus on schoolwork when I was at school.
My parents were tough on me, academically, and I was expected to get all A's. Not just A's, actually, but at least above a 95 in every class. I recall being grounded for getting a 91 on my report card. I also remember one incident in 4th or 5th grade when my report card showed all A's except for history, which I had failed (I used to hate it, or maybe the way it was taught). I noticed that one teacher had used white-out to correct one of my other grades, so I used white-out to change my low history grade to an A. I must have been around 8 years old, and certainly thought I was clever enough to get away with the ruse, but my deceit was revealed during parent-teacher conferences shortly after I had proudly displayed my report card to my parents. I'll describe some other grade-related shenanigans in another post.
I've not had a super traditional educational path, and honestly I don't know what percentage of folks actually do, but I suspect it's under 50%. This is a significant bit of information that I think is not discussed often enough in schools, homes, and social circles. When I started my PhD while working full time, and pregnant, I quickly realized that I didn't even fit the 'non-traditional student' mold. I didn't have much official educational background in what I wanted to learn (data science), and there weren't many offerings in it anyway, so I picked something that seemed like the best fit and jumped right in.
Like I said on the home page- I think the whole mentality of faking it until you make it is born of the same logic that has been weaponized in a number of ways throughout society, not just in education. It's in the same family of widely-used and rarely-challenged ideas that are used to 'other' people, to marginalize groups of people, to reinforce longstanding problematic themes in our culture. Stereotypes about social welfare programs, health and wellness, entrepreneurial or business success, and social climbing are some of the more benign examples, along with insidious examples like racism and sexism. It's junk! Don't buy into it.
I don't know the right answers and how to avoid or mitigate this in every part of our lives that it has been inserted into. What has worked for me is to find your people. Build a community, a professional network, a friend group, of people who will legitimately support you in whatever you are trying to learn or accomplish. I hope that I, and the awesome people I hope to introduce along the way, can be part of that community for you.
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