Assignment 18: Theodore

High School

1. Work on time-management. This deserves priority because it enables the rest of my goals. Besides, changing my habits tests my ingenuity. My conscious thoughts are built on top of my quicker unconscious instincts, so my irrational side is always a step ahead.
2. Decide on a university and get accepted. Obviously, this goal will dominate my senior year. But I must keep some perspective. Granted, post-secondary education is important; it seems to be the only way to stay in the middle class. Yet any any university — not just my dream school (MIT) — that supports my major should suit me.
3. Complete non-academic projects. My AP Research project is my most important long-term project, but I have several other tasks that I really should finish: My science fair project, technical support for a paper about Sudoku, various unfinished computer programs, and sorting my bookshelf using the Library of Congress’s system.
4. Volunteer for Protocol Labs. As I have previously told you, I donate my computer's spare processor time to mersenne.org to search for prime numbers. (You should try it: It’s free, easy, and has the possibility of prize money.) But I have decided to do more: Rent out free hard drive space to help defeat hackers.
5. Learn to cook. This skill will become essential in 18 months, when I leave for college. Sure, colleges do have cafeterias (“dining halls”), but (1) I don’t want to eat cafeteria food any more than necessary, and (2) I can’t eat at a cafeteria for the next sixty years of my life.

College

1. Be a dedicated student, not a perfectionist. Assuming I achieved goal 2 in high school, I won’t be the best student at my college. That’s fine. If I were the best, I would be bored and not learn. But since my college will challenge me, I need to accept that I will make mistakes.
2. Prepare for the next stage of my education. Near the end of college, I will apply for graduate school. Supposing that the job market is absolutely flooded with math majors, I may need to work in industry before moving to academia.
3. Make lifelong friends. I do not believe in social media — it’s a waste of time as well as a depressant — so I will have little to no contact with my high school peers. But this sundering of ties presents an opportunity to form long-term friendships at college.
4. Vote. Young adults are notorious for not participating in politics; I want to beat the trend. Not only should I vote every year, but I will join an activist group, although it is less important that my studies. Before leaving for college, I need to learn how to cast absentee ballots.
5. Learn French and Swedish. For French, I just need to practice and expand my vocabulary. But for Swedish, I need to learn basic grammar and spellings. Seeing as Swedish is not a common language, I probably will need to learn it as an independent study.

Life

1. Be as ethical as Peter Singer and as scientific as Richard Feynman. I believe everyone should study ethics to learn how to do the most good, but science is also necessary to determine the consequences of actions. (Of course, I am not going to model my entire life after these two people. For instance, I disagree with how Feynman viewed women.)
2. Become a mathematician. I hope that the government comes to its senses and funds more science; that’s how the economy grows. As you know by now, I think that math is fun and can’t understand why anyone would think it isn’t. Still, I am too young to predict which type of math I will focus on.
3. Start a family. Why? Two reasons — one is rational; the other is true. Rationally, I will want to pass on my genes and ideas to the next generation, preferably 20–25 years from now. In reality, I will fall in love with someone.
4. Join the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonpartisan group dedicated to protecting unbiased research. If the future political environment recognizes the importance of science, I will instead donate money/time to a charity. But politics will not reform itself in a decade, though I wish it would.
5. Learn Hindi. This life goal is unlikely: I would need to (1) have plenty of free time, (2) have learned enough French and Swedish, and (3) not need to learn another language for work. But Hindi, an Indo-European language, isn’t completely different from English/Swedish/French, and India is the world’s largest democracy.