The Value of a Good Education

A young fellow busy painting the ivory tower beige asks:

Which university has the best genetics program?

Genetics can be deduced. In fact, all genetics research is the process of deduction. Sure, some schools have more fancy lazer isotope isolation typers and older lab coats who have managed to genetically make monkeys with trapezoidal heads. These buttons and shoulders are fun to rub. However, one's education should not be defined by the furniture in your classroom so much as the thoughts that it jars loose in your head.

If you are going to go to school at the age of 19 and presume that you are going to be a geneticist, you may in fact become a geneticist. However, you will be a divorced, droopy geneticist who is simultaneously agoraphobic and claustrophobic, forever hemmed in to medium-sized rooms and wondering if you could have been a decent river guide.

When I was 19 I did not want to answer questions. I was entranced by interior design. It was a time of great revolutionary decor. Oh, the things New York was doing with wallpaper! A heady moment in the history of furnishings as well. I wanted to be a part of it. However, at the urging of The Answer Gram, I took a liberal arts undergraduate degree. Between the ages of 19 and ...ahem... now, I have come to see the world differently. Interior design faded quickly in importance, like a cheap floral print false wainscot. Now, it's all questions.

I still have a yen for design. If you drop by, I will show you my Answer Room, decorated in a manner that is inspired by Steve Jobs and young Mick Jagger. Imagine a space sparse and white, with no sharp corners or harsh lines. Then sneeze red velvet, bourbon, and leather tap pants all over it. This is where I sit and write answers. This is where I make the magic.