RE. strategies

[JFRUGOLI at bio.tamu.edu]

The Scott Peck book Karen mentioned is "A Different Drummer" and it's a real eye opener as 
to how people end up competing when cooperation would further humankind.  I highly 
reccommend it for an exercise in "thinking outside the box".  As I read it, I wondered what 
would happen if he gave one of his community building workshops (a 2 day rather intense 
experience) in an academic science department.....

On another of Karen's posts and the replies (ranking), I can affirm as a mother that 
different people learn differently, and while ranking brings out the best in some, it 
destroys others.  One of my children who (like me) responds to ranking as a challenge to 
rise to, is also, like me, obssesive and uncomfortably driven.  When I worry about him, I 
realize I'm worrying about myself, too, because deep down I know that always measuring 
yourself against others is NOT the way to a healthy self esteem, and in the long run it'll 
tear you apart.  One of my favorite quotes, from the 15th century "Desiderada" is "be 
careful not to compare yourself to others, lest you become vain and ignornant, for always 
there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

There is a tension in working in a field in which rank (tenure/not tenured, how many pubs?  
what journal?  who's funding you/how much?  what meetings do you speak at?) is the "bottom 
line" and yet my personal beliefs about being the best one can be run otherwise. Do others 
feel this?
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Julia Frugoli
Texas A&M University
Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology
Crop Biotechnology Center
MS# 2123
College Station, TX 77843
409-842-2595
FAX 409-862-4790
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