Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?
Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?
Is cleaning beakers and dishes a good experience for a freshman? Is it on the right track?
I don't know that I 100% agree. To quote a really dumb movie:
"At some point in our lives, we all fetch coffee. Your time's now."
The glassware has to get cleaned. Someone in the lab has to do it. That person is by definition the lowest man on the totem pole - the freshman research assistant in many/most labs.
Now if that is all you are doing, and it is going to stay that way for a long time, then yes that is a problem.
But as a freshman, your job is to do whatever needs to get done to show them you are diligent and responsible and deserving of further opportunity in the near future.
I agree. I think that the people in charge should have a plan like "you'll do dishes for x amount of time, and then we're going to get you started doing y."Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that doing the dishes in a lab shouldn't be a part of your job description as the most junior member in a lab. It most assuredly should be in a wet lab. As you said, someone has to do it. I was an intern not too long ago, I understand that concept .
My point as you highlight is that if you are doing the dishes and that is how you describe what you are doing in the lab, it isn't going to lead to something better or something else. You need to take initiative and take charge of your own education/experience to get something out of it instead of assuming that someone will come up to you one day and say, "you've now graduated from washing dishes, time to do something else."