Saturday, April 05, 2008
more on becoming a pilot
So I went back to T the other night and told him the facts I'd found on the internet about ages for becoming a pilot. He was disappointed, to say the least. He then said, "Most of the pilots of the shuttle flew planes first." Ah, ding ding ding. We finally had the real reason he wanted to know about becoming a pilot. He wants to get onto the shuttle. Not surprising. What I think he'd worked out in his mind was that he could get a pilot's license at 14 and then be on the shuttle by 15 without messing around with becoming a scientist or anything like that.
So Daddy-o and I broke the news to him that we were pretty sure that all astronauts nowadays had been to college first, even if they were "just" piloting the shuttle. T was disappointed to hear that. Then Daddy-o explained that he was pretty sure that most of the astronauts had Ph.D.s, too. T was really not thrilled to hear that. The topic of discussion meandered on to Ph.D.s for a while. Since Daddy-o and I both have them (along with half the members of the family at this point, I think!), this is not a completely new topic of conversation. However, T summed it up by saying, "So you go to college for at least nine years so you can get a piece of paper and so people can call you 'Doctor'?" Well, yes, but no. Daddy-o and I both voiced that there are a lot more reasons than that, primarily involving a joy of learning one's chosen subject matter. T was not really sold on that argument. I think in his mind he is contrasting flying on the shuttle with sitting in a classroom, and the classroom just isn't winning in that construction.
In order to further help T work through this issue, I asked Grandpa how many astronauts had what kind of degrees. Grandpa sent me a list of the current astronauts in the NASA program (about 125) along with their degrees. I gave T this list along with another piece of paper with headings of "M.S.," "Ph.D.," "M.D.," etc. Nerd that he his (falling close to the tree!), he thought this was an incredibly wonderful task. He joyfully sat down at the kitchen table and started charting how many astronauts had which degrees. While T was working on that task, he told B at one point, "No, B, don't bother me. I'm working on astronomy. Well, something like it anyway."
It turns out that the majority (about 60) "just" have an M.S., though quite a few have dual Masters. About 35 have Ph.D.s. Only 12 simply have a Bachelors degree. None finished their education with a high school diploma. So the conclusion for T: He will probably need to spend at least six years in college before he can become an astronaut. This was disappointing to him. Of course, Daddy-o and I haven't broken it to him that the number of folks who are actually accepted into the program versus the number who apply is also very minimal, but I think he can learn that when he gets a little older. For now, we'll use the motivation to keep him college bound.
So Daddy-o and I broke the news to him that we were pretty sure that all astronauts nowadays had been to college first, even if they were "just" piloting the shuttle. T was disappointed to hear that. Then Daddy-o explained that he was pretty sure that most of the astronauts had Ph.D.s, too. T was really not thrilled to hear that. The topic of discussion meandered on to Ph.D.s for a while. Since Daddy-o and I both have them (along with half the members of the family at this point, I think!), this is not a completely new topic of conversation. However, T summed it up by saying, "So you go to college for at least nine years so you can get a piece of paper and so people can call you 'Doctor'?" Well, yes, but no. Daddy-o and I both voiced that there are a lot more reasons than that, primarily involving a joy of learning one's chosen subject matter. T was not really sold on that argument. I think in his mind he is contrasting flying on the shuttle with sitting in a classroom, and the classroom just isn't winning in that construction.
In order to further help T work through this issue, I asked Grandpa how many astronauts had what kind of degrees. Grandpa sent me a list of the current astronauts in the NASA program (about 125) along with their degrees. I gave T this list along with another piece of paper with headings of "M.S.," "Ph.D.," "M.D.," etc. Nerd that he his (falling close to the tree!), he thought this was an incredibly wonderful task. He joyfully sat down at the kitchen table and started charting how many astronauts had which degrees. While T was working on that task, he told B at one point, "No, B, don't bother me. I'm working on astronomy. Well, something like it anyway."
It turns out that the majority (about 60) "just" have an M.S., though quite a few have dual Masters. About 35 have Ph.D.s. Only 12 simply have a Bachelors degree. None finished their education with a high school diploma. So the conclusion for T: He will probably need to spend at least six years in college before he can become an astronaut. This was disappointing to him. Of course, Daddy-o and I haven't broken it to him that the number of folks who are actually accepted into the program versus the number who apply is also very minimal, but I think he can learn that when he gets a little older. For now, we'll use the motivation to keep him college bound.
Labels: around the house, kid sayings
# posted by Elizabeth @ 10:18 AM 
