Academics: What is a piece of advice that you never received from a mentor that you want to be certain your students hear?

Mine is: Those who have it in them to be successful scholars are not those for whom schoolwork ever came easily.

I think that if I had heard early on that schoolwork is not a measure of my aptitude as a scholar, but is instead constructed to accommodate the majority of students, who have no intention of going on to become scholars, it would have freed me up to be good at schoolwork.

It would also have freed me up to enjoy scholarly pursuits beyond schoolwork a good deal earlier than I did.

Actually, I remember my freshman year in college, the first lecture I took in cognitive science, at the end of the term, the instructor pulled me aside for a cigarette after class one snowy night, and she told me: it will be very difficult for you to get your Bachelor’s,

but if you can make it, you’ll soar in the PhD.