Why Geology Matters to You and to Me

We were the pope, the soldier and the queen. The pope was from California-sunny, sandy San Diego, and while her father was a politician, he worked closely with Californian geologists. So that's why she was there, pushing through 4.6 billion years of history. Our queen was from Switzerland, spoke four languages and was only along for the lab credit. I would like to say geology leeched into her blood, but while she was fascinated by the discipline, it was her first, and last course. And then there was me, the soldier, fighting for science. Some people have Dickens running in their veins, or maybe politics or calculus, but I've always been in science. Seventh grade Life Science was the deciding factor. Mollusks 'n me, you might say-I love me squids, cuttlefish and nautili. Nothing changed in high school. So many people are driven away from biology in high school. Last year I reported on the state of the sciences in the United States and interviewed fifty-three students (I know it doesn't sound like many, but it was a small school) from all four grades of high school. Out of all of them, more than half said their biology experience had driven them away from science altogether, and only one-one out of fifty-three, said she thought biology was relevant to her life. I almost started to cry, but at the same time, I was made painfully aware of where the problem was coming from.