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(High) Schooling the Professor*

Writer's picture: Mishkat BhattacharyaMishkat Bhattacharya

This post is meant for the parents of high school students who often approach me, ostensibly to discuss, for their children, the prospect of choosing physics as a major in college. The use of the word 'ostensibly' will be clarified below.


For the purpose of this post, I would like to classify physics students coming in from high school to college in the US, broadly into three loose categories:


1. Children of parents who are professionals in education or research: These include children of academics (university professors or school teachers), of researchers in industry and government labs, of program managers at funding agencies, of doctors, etc. These students have usually clearly made up their mind to go in for physics, are backed solidly in their choice by their families, and do not consult me.


2. Children of parents who are employed in areas outside of education and research and have college as their highest degree: The parents in this case could be in business, industry, law, entertainment, or other fields. They strongly believe in sending their children to college, but prefer to avoid educating them beyond college.


The motivation behind this kind of thinking is that the parents would like their children to be 'settled' and financially secure as soon as possible, whereas a higher degree is perceived as not yielding RoI (return on investment); delaying a real job, income, savings, and promotions; and is even correlated to social disconnection, (relative) poverty and celibacy.


Sometimes the children of such parents are fascinated by what they hear from and read in the media about physics - black holes, dark matter, extra dimensions, time travel, quantum computers, the metaverse, Oppenheimer - it's a wild and fascinating world out there. They may also have very good physics teachers in high school. (I have any number of students who are non-physics majors, such as the engineering, computer science, and imaging science students taking my Modern Physics course this semester, come into my office, and swear up and down that physics has always been their favorite subject).


When they start clamoring to their parents about their interest in physics, the parents, not wishing to seem like autocrats by forbidding such a risky career move, hire me to do their dirty work for them. Here's how it works (this is based on about 10 meetings over 10 years):


I meet with both parents and children, and after the initial excitement generated by the topic of physics, the parents turn on me, vocalizing their doubts about physics being a useful major for landing a job after college, being a dangerous option as an undergraduate degree as it lures students into graduate school (to be avoided for reasons mentioned above), being ultracompetitive, and not being as sensibly identifiable as majors like engineering, bioinformatics, data science, etc.


In short, they voice all the misgivings which they do not wish to state directly to their children, but which can without any guilt be heaped upon a physics professor, albeit in the presence of the said children. The thing then for the professor is to back down and issue a stern warning to all and sundry against choosing physics as a major unless one is totally crazy or has a death wish: mission accomplished.


(Usually the hint to the professor will be given via trick questions such as:" Is there any one course in the physics major that will turn my daughter into a genius?" The obvious answer is no; which is followed by the response: "Then why bother with physics? Why not do something useful?")


After briefly considering the remaining category of incoming students, I will give some advice (below) to these parents.


3. Children who are the first generation to attend college: They are pioneers in some sense, who have hewed their path into education. They usually have thoughtful and genuine questions for me, as do their parents.


Advice to parents from category 2. above:


i) I appreciate your concern for your children. If you have decided they should not pursue physics, please tell them so yourself. If they end up pursuing physics nonetheless, they will do so on their own steam, not because of my opinions. (I know many colleagues who have become physicists in this way).  In other words, I do not need to be consulted.


ii) Physics is undoubtedly a competitive subject and attracts some of the brightest minds (think Einstein). This is the beauty and terror of the subject. But the fact that people like me can survive in the field should give anyone plenty of hope.


iii) Physics is a wonderful training ground for developing analytical skills and a great first degree for any kind of profession (I know Wall street quants, weather experts, oil prospectors, lawyers, doctors, writers,...who have first degrees in physics). For more extensive information, including salaries, please visit the Careers in Physics page of the American Physical Society.


iv) I am always available for an honest consultation.


* I am posting this a day early as I am traveling tomorrow.

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