Do you ever use your education?

2016 update (because this is one of my most popular posts): I just found out about opt-out moms! Highly educated women who decide to stay home for awhile with their kids. I think I fit the profile pretty well. And after reading an article in the New York Times that says I'm in about 1% of moms who are highly educated and well-off financially who decide to stay at home, I understand better why people would wonder what in the world I'm doing. There aren't many of us. And most of us plan on going back to work, and most of us do. I've started working very part-time myself. At the same time, I'm SO happy that I can deal with my kids' sicknesses, teacher development days, and extracurricular activities without missing grant deadlines or going insane from lack of sleep.

2015 update: It's two years later and I have a couple updates for this -- I've given several Botany presentations to my girls' classes at school, and I'm really excited about joining Girl Guides next year as a leader. I plan on doing at least a few science projects with them! I also wrote a blog about development in our area from an ecological point of view. I'm a member of our neighborhood stewardship organization that helps guide city planning (though I don't go to meetings). And finally, I really enjoy answering people's questions -- usually parents at my kids' school, and usually about GMOs. It's great fun!

Here's the original post, and it's one of my most popular posts.

----------
I got asked something like this a few months ago, “If you’re just a stay-at home mom, do you ever use your education?” It made me want to write down some of the ways in which I do indeed use my extensive education, even though I'm "just" a stay-at-home mom. Avoiding the several snarky comebacks that come to mind...

Here’s a list of some of the ways I use my PhD in Evolutionary Biology and Plant Genetics:

• Personal enjoyment. I get an immense feeling of accomplishment knowing I finished what I started. I dreamed of being a scientist from the time I was in elementary school. Some people spend thousands of dollars on cars, houses, and vacations. I spent my money on education, and I love it.

• Answering questions. I am a font of instant information for anyone wanting to know more about evolution, plant breeding, and population genetics. I’m ready and waiting to explain anything anyone asks me.  What a benefit to society, to have highly trained people living next door to you (or on social media or whatever) ready to explain controversial topics like GMOs, ancient human migration patterns, evolution, and so on. I'll also ramble on about things like ecology, native plants, green roofs, population genetics, molecular markers, and so on, if I think I have an interested audience.

• Continuing contributions to academic publications. My progress may be slow compared to full-time researchers, but I take my responsibilities as a scientist seriously. I feel it is my duty to make the data I've collected public, and I will keep publishing until I run out of datasets. After that, I’ll beg datasets from people who don’t have time to write them up.

• Job security. When I re-enter the workforce, I’ll probably be able to find a job I like.

• Editor. I’m a valuable, convenient resource for my family, especially my husband, if they need proof-reading or editing of important emails, resumes, cover letters, etc.

• Researcher. I've plowed through thousands of scientific articles, so I am very familiar with scientific jargon. I can (and have) found answers to many kinds of science questions quickly and accurately. This is especially helpful when looking for medical answers, such as which drugs or herbs have bad side effects or interactions. I can also tease out what is not written or claimed by a particular paper, since that is often just as important as what is written down.

• Critical analysis. Because my scientific writings and analyses have been critiqued hundreds of times, and because I’ve had to critique other works just as often, I’m very good at identifying drawbacks or caveats in arguments. I've been using this lately to identify potential contamination sources in processed foods, oddly enough. Critical analysis doesn’t often appeal to my children when I’m intent on proving the importance of what I need them to do. I find my 7 year old daughter learns well from example – she’s getting quite good at finding logical fallacies, to my occasional dismay.

• I’m constantly surprised by how little we know. That same 7 year old asks questions incessantly, and I’m shocked to find that even with all my education, there is always (yes, always!) at least some part of the answer that I don’t know. If she asks a simple question, like, “Can I get a blue rose?” there are many different reasons she [probably] can’t, and sometimes they’re complicated, and then I start remembering something I read about bird feathers reflecting light and how there are few true blue pigments in nature and on and on and on and on…

• Learning to learn. This is one of the most valuable things I gained from my education – the absolute knowledge that I can learn anything so long as I’m willing to put in the time. My current goals are to learn music theory, jazz piano, Tamil, Hindi, Arabic, and computer programming.

• Learning how to cook for people with allergies. My older daughter can’t eat dairy or gluten products. My long hours and many mistakes in the laboratory have taught me not to be afraid of failure. When something doesn’t work, I change it and try again. Ad nauseam.

• Converting units. All my experience in the lab means I'm really good at converting units. With a conversion factor and a pencil and paper I can convert anything into anything else (units, not animals). At home it's liters to gallons and ml to tsp and things like that.

• Anything is possible. When my daughter asks if she can go to the moon or be an entomologist or a pop star, I can honestly tell her that it’s certainly possible. It just depends on how hard (and smart) you’re willing to work. I’ve done something that I thought was almost impossible, so I have no fear in telling her that the only limits are [usually?] the ones she creates.

• Educational counseling. I’ve had friends talk to me about wanting to go back to school. My long experiences in academia enable me to give them a clear picture of the sacrifices required, as well as the potential benefits (or drawbacks) to various fields of study.

• Computer savvy. Long hours learning new programs and troubleshooting PC and Mac computers means I'm pretty good at fixing computers. No, I can't program much yet, but I can replace my iMac hard drive, which is pretty cool.

• Questions questions questions. My mind is constantly occupied. I’m rarely actually bored. My PhD advisor let me choose any question to answer provided I could come up with a research project to do it. I wrote a proposal and received a large grant to complete the research. That honed my natural curiosity more than anything else in my life. I’m always asking questions. It’s very entertaining.