Something I find funny as a geologist/gemologist

[Gilberticus 374]

One thing I do on the weekends....... dang, I don't thing it can be summed up in just one term...... I give teens a place to hang out on the weekends who don't have anything to do. Some times it's mentoring, some times we watch movies, some times I help with homework, some times I teach, some times I just provide a nonthreatening environment for them to voice the problems and concerns that they're scared to talk about with their parents. Lately, it's been teaching rudimentary Geology. How it got started was simply someone had a notebook with "Eff Geology" on it. So I looked through it, and they're teaching all the boring aspects of geology but none of the fun stuff. So, I thought I'd show them some of the cool gems and minerals one could find in the various layers of the earth they learned about, the byproducts of what happens when heat, silica, and pressure are combined, why gems and minerals are the way they are and how to tell the difference. I've shown these kids everything, from quartz to amethyst to citrine to obsidian to dragon tooth calcite to even star sapphire. What cracks me up is out of all the expensive, precious, and semi precious things they've seen, what intrigued them the most is simple slag glass. Slag glass is the left over pieces of junk when you break up and clean a glass making oven. I'm not making fun of anyone, it's just funny to me. They got to see five and six digit gemstones, stuff I keep in heavy safes, and what they liked the best is the stuff I put out in the garden to catch sunlight.

[SX255 630]

The kids put value into something they think is interesting and obtainable, opposed to what consumerism society tells them is valuable? Consider that a your minor victory for the future generation.

[chattius 2,519]

Yes. Tell me about slag. For centuries iron was melted from not so good iron ores in small bloomeries here. And nearly every interesting looking stone is a leftover from this time The deep caves here used to have beautiful stones, but they are closed to the public now.

[Ysne58 236]

Good for you mentoring those youngsters! And teaching them critical thinking skills!

[Gilberticus 374]

Thanks , Cathleen. I'll tell you, it's been a wild ride, especially since I hadn't planned on teaching things like English composition, debate, math, and public speaking. This was just supposed to be an alternative to being bored and wandering the streets or rolling a doob and watching whatever teens watch today, there aren't really places for teens to hang out here, unlike where I grew up. I was also a little shocked to learn that these kids aren't learning a few vital things we learned in high school : how to do your own research and formulate your own opinions, how to think outside of the box, creative writing, creative problem solving. These kids were great at spitting back information I gave them, but they had no clue why the answers were the way they were. College isn't just about spitting back answers, most of my courses were about coming up with my own conclusions.

 

That's when mentoring started, which shocked me. I know how to mentor without being in conflict with what the parents are trying to instill in their teens, I just never thought it would happen here. When I was a teen, I would have thought "crap, this dude's 35, he's far too old to remember what it's like to be my age", on top of the fact that I didn't have a lot of trust for people outside my age bracket to begin with. These kids don't see it like that, though. It's been a really rewarding experience that's gone fairly smooth to date.