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Yeah...I have an MD/PhD with my PhD in engineering. I grew up pretty poor and had to take time between high school and college doing a labor job for a few years so I could afford higher ed. What I got back on selling books I used to buy books for the next semester as an undergrad (total racket).
Maybe it is field specific. For advanced phys and chem oceanography there are very few good online sources of the caliber I would need. So I kept all of my textbooks as well as my notes from my advanced courses.
I also have kept and electronic copy of every scientific article I have ever read. Sure it would probably only take 15 or 20 minutes to find them online, then sign into a server I still have access to and download them but what if I need that info and I do not have internet access or just don't have that time?
I teach at a STEM specialized magnet school. Around 80% of our kids go to college for STEM careers, and we keep pretty good track of them after they graduate (we only graduate 65 or so a year). We have not had the issues I hear on this forum constantly about not being able to find jobs after graduation. Personally, I am in contact with more of the science grads then engineering (due to the nature of the courses I teach) but I have yet to hear from a student who cannot find work in their field. Granted I have heard from some of them to keep them in the loop for better jobs but not that they have no jobs.
I think a lack of funding for "WOW!" projects that gets kids' attention is one of the many reasons why American students don't want to go into the sciences.
I cannot count the number of times I went and tutored a class full of "under-achievers" in math and science, taught a few lessons, then brought them out to my car (a sports car), and they were hooked. Revving the engine and explaining to them all the background of why it works, and then teaching even the staunchly anti-math group that human studies, ergonomics, and aesthetics all have a mathematical bend to it. Kids are kids and won't want to study a boring subject like math or learn about the science behind abstract stuff like the migratory patterns of birds. They are highly practical and want to know what is going on around them that catches their attention.
I know I wouldn't have gone into the sciences if it hadn't been for me witnessing a space shuttle launch.
It's all about teaching them that despite them hating it, you have to learn it.
And no, there is not an oversupply of engineers. It's just the ones that don't want to work hard after graduation end up quitting because they thought it was a meal ticket, or a contract for a cushy lifestyle, or ones who linger on and are leeches and keep saying it cannot be done, the know-it-alls.
If you can't pass "college algebra" after 4 times I'd say its time to think about other options. There are a number of careers that are mechanical in nature that don't require a good understanding of mathematics.
How about no?
I'm sticking on this path regardless.
I already drive semi-trucks as a job, but don't really want to stay in it forever.
That and my social life has been dead for quite some time, so it's not like I'm missing out anything else.
Besides, I've visited a few college campuses and spent some time with some students in the STEM departments.
Apart from the math, I feel being involved in one of these programs will actually aid me in achieving a social life as well as finally conquering my weak, higher math skills.
Last I checked, I never heard of leaders taking "world-saving" suggestions from someone grinding gears or turning a wrench.
How about no?
I'm sticking on this path regardless.
I already drive semi-trucks as a job, but don't really want to stay in it forever.
That and my social life has been dead for quite some time, so it's not like I'm missing out anything else.
Besides, I've visited a few college campuses and spent some time with some students in the STEM departments.
Apart from the math, I feel being involved in one of these programs will actually aid me in achieving a social life as well as finally conquering my weak, higher math skills.
Last I checked, I never heard of leaders taking "world-saving" suggestions from someone grinding gears or turning a wrench.
You are welcome to pursue any career path you like but I hope you realize that most quality engineering programs would require you to pass algebra, trig, pre-calc, and then you would be on the track to enter the math courses necessary for your degree (usually thru calc 3 and linear or multivariable). If you are struggling with what is basically high school algebra then it does not bode well for your ability to meet the requirements just to ENTER the program let alone finish it.
And there isn't really "college algebra". For example most students who enter an engineering program have had algebra 1 and 2 in high school and usually right through pre-calc or calc 1. "College algebra" is usually a remedial course and doesn't count for math credit towards most STEM degrees.
You are welcome to pursue any career path you like but I hope you realize that most quality engineering programs would require you to pass algebra, trig, pre-calc, and then you would be on the track to enter the math courses necessary for your degree (usually thru calc 3 and linear or multivariable). If you are struggling with what is basically high school algebra then it does not bode well for your ability to meet the requirements just to ENTER the program let alone finish it.
And there isn't really "college algebra". For example most students who enter an engineering program have had algebra 1 and 2 in high school and usually right through pre-calc or calc 1. "College algebra" is usually a remedial course and doesn't count for math credit towards most STEM degrees.
I'm well aware of all this, but just like the warning you gave me, I got this all the time from the counselors I had while attending community college courses.
Sure I could go for a lesser vocational skill certificate that will at the very most get me into a different job and better hours.
But I'll still be relegated to the "little kids table" so to speak.
I'm not trying to take this thread in another direction, but I'm simply getting tired of being "warned" about pursuing a particular field.
I don't care if it takes me 5, 10, 15, or 20 years to get it right.
If it means a way to at least focus my life on a different task, then I see it as rewarding nonetheless.
I'm 28 years old and I'm not getting any younger.
Some people tell me to give up and focus on something that will free up time to start up a family, get a girlfriend, or some other worthless task that does nothing.
No, getting mathematics down and into my head is my primary mission in life.
I'm well aware of all this, but just like the warning you gave me, I got this all the time from the counselors I had while attending community college courses.
Sure I could go for a lesser vocational skill certificate that will at the very most get me into a different job and better hours.
But I'll still be relegated to the "little kids table" so to speak.
I'm not trying to take this thread in another direction, but I'm simply getting tired of being "warned" about pursuing a particular field.
I don't care if it takes me 5, 10, 15, or 20 years to get it right.
If it means a way to at least focus my life on a different task, then I see it as rewarding nonetheless.
I'm 28 years old and I'm not getting any younger.
Some people tell me to give up and focus on something that will free up time to start up a family, get a girlfriend, or some other worthless task that does nothing.
No, getting mathematics down and into my head is my primary mission in life.
Before you take another algebra class, have you considering taking pre-algebra?
I'm well aware of all this, but just like the warning you gave me, I got this all the time from the counselors I had while attending community college courses.
Sure I could go for a lesser vocational skill certificate that will at the very most get me into a different job and better hours.
But I'll still be relegated to the "little kids table" so to speak.
I'm not trying to take this thread in another direction, but I'm simply getting tired of being "warned" about pursuing a particular field.
I don't care if it takes me 5, 10, 15, or 20 years to get it right.
If it means a way to at least focus my life on a different task, then I see it as rewarding nonetheless.
I'm 28 years old and I'm not getting any younger.
Some people tell me to give up and focus on something that will free up time to start up a family, get a girlfriend, or some other worthless task that does nothing.
No, getting mathematics down and into my head is my primary mission in life.
That's a great attitude. I wish more people thought this way. Never give up!
Don't bother, they explain this apparent contradiction by noting that these are just the special lucky people that got good jobs.
According to ACS these lucky people are about 20% of those who graduate. Only 30-40% of chem and 50% of ChemE are employed full time.
Half the Chem majors and a quarter of the ChemE's are employed in dead end jobs in academia that are known to have substandard pay.
Companies have been crying science shortage for decades and meanwhile they treat their science staff worse every year. Just ask the victims of the pharma layoffs how well a science career has been to them. The majority of companies have switched to not even hiring their science staff as employees but as contractors with no benefits, an agency eating half your pay check, and no job stability. It is no wonder why smart Americans are increasingly repulsed by the idea of perusing a career in science. This article points it out nicely.
But the reason is not, as some people say, that young Americans lack the smarts or the skills to succeed in those fields. Instead, it appears that longstanding U.S. policies have destroyed the incentives that used to attract many of the nation’s best young minds into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the so-called STEM fields).
“It’s a labor market story,” not an education story, says one of the report’s authors, Harold Salzman, of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. Rather than staying with STEM for graduate studies or a first job, many of our most able college graduates are now opting out of the pipeline that the nation used to count on to carry gifted students into STEM careers.
But the new study reveals an ominous trend among the scientifically gifted. Although the numbers of young Americans studying STEM in high school and college are as strong as ever, the very best of those students, as indicated by their SAT scores and college grade point averages, are less likely than in decades past to stay in STEM when they leave college.
To trim expenses, companies began to outsource research to India and China. It started as a trickle, but soon became a tsunami, leaving many thousands of highly intelligent and well-trained professionals with nothing to do -- a shameful waste of talent. [LEFT]
It wasn't always this way. The mid-1990s saw a shortage of chemists, with drug companies hiring like crazy. Bristol-Meyers Squibb, for one, offered cars as signing bonuses. But the company has fired over 10,000 employees since 2000; one wonders if any of them are now living in those cars.
[/LEFT]
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