Postby Technomancer » Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:28 am
Well, to begin with I'd recommend taking courses as broadly as possible while you're still in highschool. This will at least give you a better idea of the nature of the field. Likewise, reading books on your subjects of interest is a good way of understanding what you like and what you don't.
Speaking as an engineer, there is a lot of room for creativity in the profession. After all, engineers are the ones who research and design the technologies that make the modern world. This requires a lot of ingineuity and a great willingness to learn (and to keep learning). It is also a field that is not restrictive- it is often cross-fertilized by other disciplines. For example, environmental engineering may require an understanding not just of engineering principles, but also of ecology, geology and politics. Much of my own research (which has mainly focussed on neural networks) draws from psychology and neurobiology. You could of course, always take a minor in subject if time permits.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov
