Originally Posted by
recycle 
Yes, RG = PG depending on the state. You are right not a lot of rocks in my field, mostly mud and water.
I never studied much paleo. The prof. at my OSU was a crusty SOB that hated teaching. His opening lecture was: “Your never going learn enough paleontolgy to be worth a sh!t. The best I can do is teach you to correctly collect samplesand prepare them for shipment so you don’t eff it up for a real paleotonogist.” He was right, once you can tell a mollusk from a bivalve you probably otta pat yourself on the back and get it to an expert – like you. I am sure you will out standing in your field someday. (I know, I have spent lots of time standing out in fields.)
Wow, he sounds friendly! In one semester you wouldn't learn enough paleo to do much, it's true, but that doesn't mean it's a waste of time. One of the funnest things we did in intro paleo was spend a week picking apart a "science" movie -- we chose Jurassic Park -- to see what they got right and wrong (I will never be content with Hollywood until dinosaurs are portrayed with feathers). We went through
Origin of Species and pointed out where Darwin was wrong. Prof took a couple fossil sets and taught us about the critters in them, then we went on a field trip, collected and identified those fossils, and interpreted where/when they came from. And we sure had fun getting covered in mud on a nice spring day. In effect our professor had three goals: to help us understand what evolution is and isn't and how to use it in geology (a goal made all the more entertaining by the one Young Earth Creationist in the class), to understand the basic history of life on earth, and to have a little fun with paleontology. It really bothers me when scientists take the attitude that science (or their branch of it) is beyond the mental capabilities of most people (like your paleo prof seemed to think). It's a product of their own narcissism. All you need to be a scientist is curiosity about something. Look at Mythbusters; all they do is apply the process of science to urban legends (and then make things explode, of course).
I won't drink and drug today because it ruins my curiosity about the world around me.