Nothing is wasted in education

By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.

When my children were still in middle and high school, they asked that often repeated question: "Why do I have to know that? I'm going to be a (put your favorite job here) and I don't have to be able to (write, solve equations, understand the periodic table).

I'm sure I gave them some kind of answer, but I wish I had known then what is apparent now.

As I meet with researchers of all kinds, I realize that a well-rounded education is the only path to success. Most of the scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and in the Texas Medical Center focus their energies on biomedical pursuits. They know the body. They understand the life of cells. They understand biochemistry and biophysics and molecular biology.

Writing is important

However, their success often hinges on something else – something that seems outside the realm of biomedicine. They have to be able to write and communicate what they know to an audience that may or may not understand their science at the level they do.

They have to write papers that appear in a variety of journals. Successful papers explain the science simply and in a straightforward manner. What is the problem? How did you address it? What did you find? What does that mean?

It seems mundane, but writing a good paper that communicates the information well and in a form that cannot be misconstrued is a crucial part of science. Ask any scientist, and he or she will tell you that much of the time is spent sitting in front of a computer screen, putting the results of their experiments into understandable prose.

I wish I had told my children that.

Solving equations

Proving that your research is worthwhile often means putting it through a statistical hoop or two. I recently talked to a biomedical researcher whose intricate work tells us much about metabolism, fetal development and the effect of the mother on the infant.

Yet statistics proved one of the most challenging aspects of one of her most recent papers, as she and her colleagues parsed the results from thousands of patients, ensuring that the work was significant at each stage.

It was a tough study, but it was important because it enables physicians and patients to quantify the risks and benefits of specific tests. Her work involves medicine and genetics and even more. However, she needs her mathematical knowledge to put it into perspective.

I wish I had told my children that.

Biology, chemistry and physics

I have chosen writing as my career. Yet if I had not taken courses in biology, chemistry and physics at the undergraduate level and beyond, I could not pursue writing in the way I want. The mathematics and science that I absorbed in high school, undergraduate studies and graduate school enables me to at least ask intelligent questions as I talk to scientists about their work.

Nothing I took in school was wasted. In some form or another, I put it to use every day.

I know I told my children that.