I had a high school English teacher who said "irregardless" almost daily.
Eventually, half of my class confronted her with a variety of dictionaries, all of which had the word listed but with notes about it being nonstandard, erroneous, etc. She didn't care. I think she actually laughed at us. Some people just really like using that "word."
To this day, it makes me a little angry every time I read/hear it.
I think this is a great point. There are definitely some basic organic chem concepts that are important, the key is teaching them in a way that can be applied practically to the student's field.
I didn't take any REAL organic courses in college -- as a bioinformatics major, I suffered through a one-quarter joke of a class they called "intro to organic chem" where I learned nomenclature for 10 weeks. Then, I jumped headfirst into a year of graduate-level biochemistry courses, and research in a biochemistry lab.
I was forced to learn some organic to understand the reactions that were important to me. At the time I didn't even realize that's what organic chemistry was, I just needed to know where the electrons would go, and why. When my PI said "see, you know some organic!" I responded with "I do?!?"
There's a ton of organic chem that I don't know, and don't really care to learn, so I can see why pre-meds would feel the same. However, I really think some medically-applicable organic chem would be a huge help, like you describe in your last paragraph.
If you decide to incorporate gemstones, I think many geeky ladies would prefer lab-created stones, whether they're diamond substitutes or whatever else. Moissanite is great in place of diamonds, it's even more sparkly (for lack of a more technical term).
I requested not to get engaged (and my now-husband happily complied) so I don't have an engagement ring, but my wedding band contains lab-created pink sapphires in a gradient from dark to almost clear. Which brings up another point -- marriage-related jewelry doesn't need to have white/clear stones. Some women (like me) find them fairly boring. It's something to ask about.
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Anything that gets you a picture on the cover of Science can't be that big a disaster.
I had a high school English teacher who said "irregardless" almost daily.
Eventually, half of my class confronted her with a variety of dictionaries, all of which had the word listed but with notes about it being nonstandard, erroneous, etc. She didn't care. I think she actually laughed at us. Some people just really like using that "word."
To this day, it makes me a little angry every time I read/hear it.
I think this is a great point. There are definitely some basic organic chem concepts that are important, the key is teaching them in a way that can be applied practically to the student's field.
I didn't take any REAL organic courses in college -- as a bioinformatics major, I suffered through a one-quarter joke of a class they called "intro to organic chem" where I learned nomenclature for 10 weeks. Then, I jumped headfirst into a year of graduate-level biochemistry courses, and research in a biochemistry lab.
I was forced to learn some organic to understand the reactions that were important to me. At the time I didn't even realize that's what organic chemistry was, I just needed to know where the electrons would go, and why. When my PI said "see, you know some organic!" I responded with "I do?!?"
There's a ton of organic chem that I don't know, and don't really care to learn, so I can see why pre-meds would feel the same. However, I really think some medically-applicable organic chem would be a huge help, like you describe in your last paragraph.
If you decide to incorporate gemstones, I think many geeky ladies would prefer lab-created stones, whether they're diamond substitutes or whatever else. Moissanite is great in place of diamonds, it's even more sparkly (for lack of a more technical term).
I requested not to get engaged (and my now-husband happily complied) so I don't have an engagement ring, but my wedding band contains lab-created pink sapphires in a gradient from dark to almost clear. Which brings up another point -- marriage-related jewelry doesn't need to have white/clear stones. Some women (like me) find them fairly boring. It's something to ask about.