Undecided.

[Crocodile]

I would just like to say Hello and it's a pleasure to be here. This is the first time I've been to this forum and will be the first thread I ever post in this forum because frankly I'm in a thinking crisis right now.

I hope you guys would understand that I am no professional. I am a student in High School in Canada and will be in the twelfth grade this coming September. I do not know what I want to get into after high school, yet.

 

Well, onwards to my issue!

 

 

I'm not a science type of guy sad to say. Well, I'm not a "high school" science guy. The science in High School seems rather over complicated than it needs to be, and that's basically why I'm almost not taking it.. AT ALL.

 

I plan on being a full out experimenter or an alcohol/wine brewer. I always loved science in the past years, but it drew slimmer and slimmer as I reached High School.

 

I don't want to take all of the science courses that I need to get a science major in university. I'm not sure why, but I just want my last year in High School(Grade 12) to be a breeze. I guess what I posted above is why. High school science is waaaay too complicated for me.. with the writing and the comparing and the drawing..

i'm more of a hands on type of guy, not a write down type of guy.

 

I already have the blueprints of my wine making printed out, and the workstation ready. The only thing that's stopping me are the common thoughts, "Do I really have a chance at this lifestyle in the future? How will I get there?"

 

I don't even know what I'm gonig to do with my life.. Sure, I want to pursue that career as a Chemist, or a Biochemist, but I don't understand how taking all of these courses will bring me to university.

I was also thinking of being a Pharmacy Technician. It only takes two years at max in the University I plan to attend and it would allow me to get an insight on Chemistry and things, and I could have a peaceful Grade 12. It would allow me to make some money as well as have a fallback if the whole experimenter doesn't work out. But then again it would take those extra years to actually get where I want to be..

 

Another question I have deals with a comparison in High School science courses and University science courses.

How different are the courses in University compared to High School? Are they more hands-on oriented, or are they still butt-in-chair oriented?

 

 

The biggest problem with me is that many things catch my eye. I remember watching Knowing and immediately thinking, "I want to be an Astronomer or an Astrophysicist."

Yeeeeah, I need help.

[Mokele]

You want complete honesty? By skipping high school science courses (and related math courses, presumabily), you've set yourself back substantially, to the point where it would be next to impossible for you to graduate with any science-based degree, even pharmacy technician, in the usual time.

 

If HS science is too complicated and too "butt-in-chair", I suggest the wine-making angle. College science is much, much more complicated, and primarily lecture-based. There are a labs, of course, but these aren't going to be anything close to the majority of your time.

 

Hell, even now, as a PhD student in science, I spend much more of my time reading papers and staring at the computer while I process data or write papers than I do on my own experiments. Actual professors spend even *less* time in the lab.

 

I don't mean to be discouraging, but if you aren't enthralled enough to attend every lecture and memorize every note, you have zero chance of making it in science. That's just the way it is, sorry.

[OliviaMcQ]

I agree with Mokele. I assume that from high school, science only gets more complex and time consuming. It sounds to me like you don't really realize that to perform relevant and useful experiments, you have to have a strong background in the butt-in-chair aspects of what you are investigating.

 

My suggestion is to explore your interests, study and experiment on your own, and see if science is something that you really want to do. If you find that no, it isn't really something you are willing to devote yourself to, you have other options. The only thing you shouldn't do is eliminate opportunities by taking the "easy" route in your last year of high school. That's probably your biggest mistake right there.

 

Also, was it just me or was there very little astrophysics/astronomy in Knowing? From what I saw, it was a little bit of cryptography and a lot of sitting around moping and drinking. And carnage.