Are Science People Boring?

~ Clarissa

Here’s another interesting question from the anonymous app:

Thing is, I’m not seeing that. My most curious, sensitive and deep-thinking students tend to double-major in Spanish and computer-sci, Spanish and Chemistry, Spanish and pre-med. The students (always male) who’ll show up at my office to talk about poetry, history, and society are pretty much all future programmers. A new computer-sci major came today, and by the look of it, I’ll see him in my office now constantly. They are all very interesting guys with a wide range of interests.

Curiously, the discipline that absolutely despises foreign languages is English lit. English majors never take our courses beyond the required Beginner level. A double major in English and Spanish is more rare than a giraffe in the Arctic.

And this is completely off-topic but it’s very sad that female students never go to professors’ offices just to chat. I go down the hallway and see a male student chatting with a prof in every other office. Female students will only come with some nitpicky question about a grade but it’s the beginning of the semester, so grade worries haven’t begun.

I literally remember the last time I had a female student show up to express her thoughts about philosophical issues. It was 2011, she was older than me, and had a schizoaffective disorder.

Getting back to the subject, my husband is a quant. The friend I’m the closest to here is a Computational Chemistry professor. And the colleague who drives the whole campus crazy with philosophical musings is a physicist. Maybe I’m very lucky but I’m not seeing one-dimensional, boring science people.

We also have some great science types participating on the blog, by the way.

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Published by Clarissa

16 thoughts on “Are Science People Boring?”

  1. Unfortunately, I have encountered the kind of person the question asker is referring to. I don’t think they’re a majority of STEM enthusiasts, but they’re out there.

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    1. Of course, my sample is not representative because there’s a selection bias. The techie students who take my classes are by definition interested in the Humanities.

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        1. I had a friend who was a passionate believer in the theory that women are incapable of enjoying sex. She collected articles that she thought supported this idea and argued for it in elaborate ways.

          The linked piece comes from a similar place. Instead of saying “I’m incapable of experiencing what most people do, how can I remedy it?” such people construct wordy, complex theories to present their deficiency as normal.

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      2. I corroborate this. Science+language students, at least where I work, are academically more prepared than other students and are very curious intellectually. This is so obvious where I work that my TAs in French and Spanish are now Health Science students. You are also right about English majors. I would be interesting to figure out why they do not even minor in another language. I think that we may know why…

        Comp Sci students are also interesting and interested in languages. They probably see them as coding, which is true.

        Ol.

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        1. I was once doing program review of the English department and we asked students what changes they wanted to see in their program. The #1 wish was to eliminate the foreign language requirement. Two students cried, with actual tears because they were so upset about the language requirement. They are all mega woke but the idea of learning about another culture is intolerable to them. It’s fascinating.

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          1. I cannot say if our English majors are woke because I literally never see them in my classes.

            We offer a new program that is extremely popular. It is called International Education. It is a Global Studies + Education major. It has a language requirements, two courses not even in sequence, and many Intl. Ed. students are extremely upset about it.

            I also wonder what Intl. Ed. students do with their degree? TOEFL instructor abroad without talking a foreign language? Teachers? It is fascinating…

            Ol.

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        2. The most brilliant and intellectually curious people have wide ranging interests, usually interest in both literature and science. And those who *can* major in STEM usually do (though I’ve seen the type of person I’m thinking of in many walks of life.) I’m not in academia but I’m also unsurprised by this phenomenon.

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  2. This is David Bellamy. I don’t understand the new format here, so I have not posted lately. I have had female students come by my office to discuss ideas. I started college with a triple major in Mathematics, English literature, and Physics. I ended up with strong minors in English and Physics, and a major in mathematics.I taught for almost 50 years; I have a few former students, all female, who keep in touch with me years, or even decades, after they graduated.

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    1. I’m so sorry about the stupid commenting format. I have no control over it, unfortunately.

      And here, everybody, David is another example of a scientist who is deeply interested in the Humanities.

      As for students, maybe they subconsciously get attached to opposite sex professors.

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  3. “As for students, maybe they subconsciously get attached to opposite sex professors.”This is possible. I had not thought of it.

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  4. As someone said upthread, there are many aspies among STEM people. But the most successful academics in STEM fields other than math (basically, where grant money has to be raised) generally have a high level of showmanship, alongside good verbal and written communication skills. STEM professionals who can’t write or present are severely limited in their professional sphere. And being able to relate to other people is extremely helpful in any field. Anyway, I have been writing and publishing fiction and nonfiction for over a decade now, have multiple books coming out this year and next, and lots of short-story credits; I read voraciously across genres; I watch various movies and shows; I love linguistics and foreign languages and speak several; I draw and collect art and sculptures; I love and often attend comedy shows and art shows; I am generally very easy to amuse with any news from the realms of arts or sciences. However, if you were my colleague, you would never know any of this about me. I am a professor in a STEM field, one of the fields that requires a lot of math. None of my colleagues know anything about my hobbies or how I really am because it’s none of their business. There is a cutthroat element to being a STEM professional, the expectation that you will pour 100% of yourself into your work and anything else makes you a waste of your position. It’s OK to share a tiny bit about family (like that you have one, not that it makes it unable for you to make 8 am meetings) or about other pursuits as long as they are not too serious and not the mind (so going to the gym is fine, but writing fiction is very likely not). What I’m trying to say is that maybe you (the anonymous poster) don’t know how people really are, and they’re actually not as boring as you think. I am completely opaque about my hobbies, so if you met me in a professional context, you’d likely think I were the most boring person ever because I would let you speak (people love to talk about themselves) and would not divulge anything about what’s important to me until we’ve known each awhile. Getting other people to open up is a skill and also a privilege not everyone deserves.

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