Career Choices: What About Forestry?
appealing to a teen-aged farm boy in the 1960s. I zipped through high school, got a nifty ring with a red stone and a College Board score with four numbers in it. I thought I was ready to matriculate, and the University of Georgia thought I might be a good risk. Before it was over, we both had reason to doubt our judgment. . . Turns out, forestry school had a lot more to do with math, chemistry, and physics than it did with manly activity. Some of those subjects were so enjoyable that I took them several times; in Physics 101 alone, I had more seniority than some professors. Eventually the draft board took notice. Their letter started off with great promise: “Greetings from the President of the United States.” Then they got down to business, saying, “Your friends and neighbors have selected you . . .” Turns out they wanted me to participate in another manly activity. They called it Infantry, but that’s another story. For a while, I got a different kind of education, learning important
