Changing specialties?

[alla]

There's also a difference between becoming an authority on a topic, and becoming a specialist. I agree, that there are often times where you will study and study something, only to forget it after an exam, but this doesn't mean that you have a specialty in it; you have knowledge of it, and you are possibly an authority on the topic. A strong specialty is something that you have to have a strong interest in, something that you aren't just going to throw by the wayside after exams are over.

To use classes as an example. During high school, I was a jack of all trades. I was an authority on all topics (my classes, and some that I wasn't taking ), and I would often be asked questions by other students, even though I wasn't the top of that particular subject. My specialty, though, was and still is the Earth sciences. I have a fascination and a drive to learn about how our planet (and the others of the Solar system) works; how all the "cycles" fit together, and I have become a specialist. That's not to say that I don't still want to be a jack of all trades, but the more I try new things, the more I realise that my thought patterns have become dominated by geology, because it has been something that I have decided to specialise in.

When I was younger, I thought I would do medicine. Then I found out that I can't stand doing dissections. Then I thought that being an astrophysicist would be fun - but I didn't have an interest in the maths involved. Then I discovered geology, and I've never looked back. It is the jack of all trades of the sciences. Rather than physics or chemistry, where you tend to focus on just your field, geologists must understand a little bit about a lot of sciences, and be able to meld them together in order to understand how our planet works. Geology has become my specialty through nearly seven years of studying it at high school and university.

Study to become a specialist is the only way to do it; someone isn't just born a specialist overnight it takes dedication and a love of or interest in the topic. Ask any specialist doctor how long it took them to get their specialty; ask your teachers how long it took them to study to get where they are; ask a lawyer how many sleepless nights they spent studying at college before they got their degree, and then how long until they got their specialty. Specialties require study.

[nelina]

I also agree with Tuttle. I've changed interests too, but I made my decision on a career about five years ago (6th grade). However, the person I thought I was going to be with at that time, changed this year. After almost three years. Now, I've been set in for my new future plan, for a little over seven months.

Anywho, I also call myself "Jack of all trades"

For, besides wanting to be a Defense attorney by carreer, I am also a writer, as I have been avidly for four years, a musician (trumpet, piano, guitar, and voice), I also wirte my own songs and music. I'm also an artist, I paint, draw, sketch, you name it, except for pottery.

So, my main fortes are actually arts and public speaking. I'd actually like to be in congress later.

Enough about me, the point is that intersts change, but can also expand to include others, without diminishing the original in any way.

Alla: I believe that becoming a specialist in something by study does not make it a true specialty per se.

Ex: I study and specailize in the history of the myans for a class. I become the go to authority in the school. I take the test, the class is over. I don't remember as much, but I still know some, I 'm just no specialist/fanatic.

you have to have interset, knowledge, skill, talent, dedication, and all other words that mean the same 2 or 3 things, to be a specialty.

If you love something, and work to improve it, and develop a talent, that is a speacialty.

A , is the keyword in that sentence.

[alla]

I agree with Tuttle. It is said in the earlier books that changes in specialities is in no-way uncommon. At the beginning, Nita's life (and particuarly plant - a tree is the first thing she talks to) based speciality seems to stem (pun intended) from her dad - she's been around plants quite a bit and has a love for living things. Kit, on the other hand, may be more focused on non-living creatures in the beginning simply for the stereotypical fact that he's a boy. I don't mean this in a sexist way, but just that boys tend to have more of a affinity for cars and so on. Dairine's specialisation would grow from her fascination with space and the things one finds (or hopes to find) there.

The kernel work that comes into play from Dilemma onwards, stems from research - Nita worked hard to build up that knowledge, so of course she becomes specialised in that, but there doesn't seem to be an indication that I can recall that says her original speciality is actually _gone_. Tuttle's comment, regarding "jack of all trades, master of none", is fairly applicable.

When I was 12, I wanted, or was thinking of going into medicine and becoming a doctor. By the time I was 13, I had changed my mind away from that, as dissections gross me out. When I was 14/15, I had discovered geology/Earth Science, and I've never looked back. I'm odd in this, some of my friends, who have now completed degrees, still don't know what they want to do. Some have dropped out of uni, because it wasn't where they wanted to be, and some have completed degrees and then done backflips and are working in areas that are unrelated to what they studied. We are creatures of change, especially when you're younger. You don't know what you want to do, and you buck the system everytime someone tries to label you (or at least you should, it keeps adults on their toes ). I guess I'm trying to emphasize Tuttle's point that at 12 or 13 years old, people don't know what they want to do.

EDIT: I've just been reading the Errantry Concordance entry on Davidson, A.R., and it mentions the concept of a 'polymage';

a wizard good at nearly every subset of the Art he turns his hand to, but utterly spectacular at his specialty.

Could Nita be heading along these lines?

I wonder how much of the presence of the Peridexis in Nita's head is because of her studying the kernels, and how much is "other stuff". I can't wait to find out from the next book...

[wizardsrreal]

Yeah, I would agree with that. I would describer her specialties like someone who plays more than musical instrament or someone who does more than one sport. They play more than one instrament or play one sport but are equally good at all of them. One might be more prominent(sp?) or one might stand out slightly as being better than the other but overall they are good at all of them. That's how Nita is with her specialties. Even though she is moving towards seeing the future or whatever, she is still good at working with plants.

[trevbook]

Yeah I agree with Zirsta, what if Nita's specialty is just... all wizardry. I mean, Dairines is alien creatures, Kit's is Machinery, and Nita has like, 5.

[Tuttle]

Nita is human

When I think about it, Nita is in no way special with her changing specialities. This is a normal thing, it seems to me, and while not everyone will change, many people will.

In these books we're watching them grow up through their wizardry, and how the wizardry affects the process. Changing specialities, seems normal in this process. My guess is that she will settle in a speciality, at some point (the speciality could be generality, but this is besides the point ("Jack of all trades, master of none; but often times better than master of one"?)), just like what we do in looking at our futures.

Think about how many times what you wanted to do with your future changed; how many times your favourite subject in school; how many times your interest changed. Just because Nita is a wizard she is expected to know what she wants to be doing for the rest of her life at 13, even if its subconscious knowledge in the form of a speciality? As she grows, and changes, through the things such as her mother's death, it seems sensible that her specialities would change. It would in fact, change us, in our non-wizarding ways. Yes, a few people go through life and end up where they had expected while young, but this is the exception, not the rule.

Nita and Kit are human too, they are not above human changes and problems because of their wizardry. A Wizard's Dilemma showed this very clearly. This changing seems to be a human thing, not a wizard thing, not something special about Nita, but fundamentally human in nature.

[nelina]

Until one has fully set in one's nitch, specialties can change, not just to new categoies, but within itself; it can morph. Specialties are not a set list, one can have a very spcific, or very broad specialty. It is a matter of when you can come up with an appropriate label.

[Zirsta]

Go see this thread Septimus. You too Wiccangixie.

The post you need to see is at the bottom of the last page. Take it seriously.
http://www.youngwizards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=449

[Wiccangixie]

LMAO! I love that name Sep. Mine if I call ya Septy. I have a tendency to come up with random names Its addicting and quite common for me to do that. YES, the lucid dreaming was amazing. I want to see her get better at healing too.
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ya sure you can.

Then Septy it is, and as for you Ms. Lauren how about something a little different? How about Leda? I like that for you

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OH! my cousins name is Leda it's croation i think. oh man i wish i could be like an everything specialty.

But then where would the fun be for everyone else Septy?! Its about having different specialties that makes the world so diverse, not having every one. Did that make sense? I can't tell if it make's sense. I'm sorry Leda! Didn't mean to cause confusion lol
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Wow! I didn't even realize I was writing since. I'm usualy a spelling addict. ~Turning away from embarassment now!~
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haha i see you lol jk
thanks for making me laugh so much today. I needed to. I had an exam today, and I still don't know what I got. I'm nervous.
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HA
i would have made you laugh even if you weren't in a bad mood, i'm sure you did fine. at least someone thinks i'm funny*glares menacingly at Z wereever she is*

I don't know about fine (it was spanish, and sometimes I forget grammatical rules) but z is def gonna laugh after she notices how much we mention getting back on topic
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I hate the crappy formal spanish that they teach us in school. The informal verson is so much better. That's the only version my hispanic friends use. I will never understand why we're taught the formal way.
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Wow! That's terrible. What are they teaching us in schol now? ~Rolls Eyes~ I bet you that eventually another, more beautiful than Latin, language will pop up eventually. Its gonna take 100 years.
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Oh please don't say that!
I want good times to come Let the good times roll
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They will...
after the dark ages!
jk

Its cool lol. Don't scare me like that
I get very timid about these things.

[Glede]

You bet your foot this is crazy, oh and Wican i havn't properly introduced myself Septimus-wizard-universe defender/guardin-galaxy lord-comedian-and billionair entruepnr(sp)-i wish- HA

but you can call me septimus or sep.

haha! I luv your name! It's so awesome and SO familiar!
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Ditto!
You come up with weird names?
Sadly, I'm given the weird names. They call Lowen. WHEN MY NAME IS CLEARLY LAUREN!
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call me what you like. right now i wish my specialty was machines*grumbles at stupid slow computer*

LOL!
Can I call you Septy too?
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Huh? I'm confuzeld....

[Septimus]

That's an interesting idea.

This is crazy... All the top posters are posting in the same topics all at the same time...

You bet your foot this is crazy, oh and Wican i havn't properly introduced myself Septimus-wizard-universe defender/guardin-galaxy lord-comedian-and billionair entruepnr(sp)-i wish- HA

but you can call me septimus or sep.
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familiar? really??? i don't get that too often...
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call me what you like. right now i wish my specialty was machines*grumbles at stupid slow computer*
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ya sure you can.
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OH! my cousins name is Leda it's croation i think. oh man i wish i could be like an everything specialty.
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Yes that made SENSE *cough* spelling *cough*
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Haha not your falt. i do it to after i've been texting for a while. *points to something in the dirrection Wican just turned* *cough* mirror *cough* lol
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HA
i would have made you laugh even if you weren't in a bad mood, i'm sure you did fine. at least someone thinks i'm funny*glares menacingly at Z wereever she is*
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She better after we went through all this trouble
YOU HEAR ME Z! lol
i hate spanish!
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I hate the crappy formal spanish that they teach us in school. The informal verson is so much better. That's the only version my hispanic friends use. I will never understand why we're taught the formal way.

Uhh! i know! i try to talk to my Grdeners' but sometimes they don't even understand!
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Ya after we go through another dark ages!
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They will...
after the dark ages!
jk
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really

dark ages!
LOL LMAO JK again!

[Glede]

Wow, this is confusing. She has had SO many specialties and getting new ones every day it seems. I wonder what her next one will be?
I kinda liked the specialty of lucid dreaming. That's cool.

[Zirsta]

That's an interesting idea.

This is crazy... All the top posters are posting in the same topics all at the same time...

[Wiccangixie]

Maybe her specialty should revolve around scientific laws of multiple universes. Hey, she does love astronomy, and maybe organic life should also fall into that category.

[Zirsta]

Well, a wizardry specialty. So, sort of like the all round gymnastics champion from the olympics. She got something in everything, knows about it all, and has experience with most of it. Like having no specialty, except not.