<p>I had to take an earth science course a few years back for my Washington state certification–despite having an MIT degree, I’d never taken any geology–and was deeply pleased to discover how useful it was. Geology is literally all around you, and the earth science course changed how I looked at scenery. Yes, I knew basic geology, but I didn’t have a system. </p>
<p>It is a shame that geology and earth science are seen as second class sciences. To my mind, they should be up there with physics, bio, and chem as essentials. Perhaps it’s the association with mining?</p>