The Fire That Burns Within

The Fire That Burns Within

"...we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond." Walt Whitman, "Now I Will You to Be a Bold Swimmer," Song of Myself.

I never really thought about how one's childhood continues to shape one's future. When I was young it never crossed my mind to say, "I wanna be a medical doctor of endocrinology when I grow up" or "I wanna be a biomedical researcher at A&M University." It was, of course, always "I wanna be a fireman" or "I'm gonna be an astronaut." Somewhere along the line I became interested in science, and now I want to become a doctor. From looking back on my past all I can figure out is that my interest in science grew the more I learned. I see it as this burning fire that started out as a spark when I went to my first science fair in second grade and saw all those experiments written out and displayed on tri-folded poster board cut-outs. Now I try to feed that flaming fire of curiosity by learning as much as possible about everything, yet I also need to stay focused and concentrate on this future in medicine. In short, I need to become an ideal student.

In my opinion, the ideal student is one who always asks questions, consistently yearning to know what is unknown to him or her. The ideal student is smart and always wondering and thinking about something. This ideal student doesn't necessarily need to be totally organized, yet that student shouldn't be sloppy either. For instance, I can be really smart, always ask questions, always be thinking, but I could be so disorganized I couldn't even find my homework. An ideal student is a curious student, constantly pondering and frequently trying to communicate these thoughts to others. "A scholar is driven by a force as strong as his curiosity, that compels him to tell the world the things he has learned," says Edmund S. Morgan, of Yale University, in his paper "What Faculty Expect of Students."

I do not think I am Morgan's ideal student. I only meet a few of the requirements. I do, however, think quite a bit.