"I hate science." In six years of graduate school, this has to be the phrase I’ve heard most frequently from my colleagues.
People who have dedicated their lives to science.
People who made a decision when they were about 16 years old to focus on science, who went through four years of undergrad and an average 6 years of graduate school, and 4-10 more years of training.
People who’ve spent every moment since 2000 entirely dedicated to making new facts using the scientific process.
"I hate science." Why this instead of, "I love science?"
Frankly, everything about the career, the business of science, is constructed to impoverish and disenfranchise young scientists, delaying the maturation of their careers beyond practicality.
You'd think it would be a bit easier to find science teachers among all the people bailing out of academic science careers.
1 comment:
Not sure it counts, but my interests in a research career died while still an undergrad, after a series of pointless deaths of our specimens.
It sounds trite, but pulling off the head off a live cricket under a dissecting scope was the moment I realized I wasn't going to do this anymore. (This had been preceded by numerous incidents before that--there is a learning curve in learning how to kill animals well.)
Academic science looks brutal, like being stuck in the Double A ball at 29 years old.
Except not as fun....
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