 |
 |
I have been following the "science & fashion" debate for a while, and saw that someone recently raised the issue of money. In my view, one of the most serious problems school children face when trying to decide whether to follow a science career is the difficulty if finding out what the financial rewards are in different areas, arts, science, media, TV etc. Is there a conspiracy of silence here? Why is this information not easily available? In my view it would a great asset if we could persuade some organisation to make a careful, accurate, annual assessment of current pay/financial expectations for as many different jobs/professions etc, both in science and arts (the whole range in fact). This way children (and everyone else) would be able to see what they are letting themselves in for. For such an undertaking to be useful, it would have to give some idea of pay in relation to number of years since leaving school (and typical ages, exams, qualifications etc). In a lot of areas, say doctors, lawyers, armed forces, university workers, the pay and structure is fairly clear, and could be quite easily put together by all the various folk who read this newsgroup. There are occasional articles about jobs in science in the New Scientist - but why do they *never* mention what the salary is likely to be!! So, why don't we try and do something about this? I think it would be very useful. I also feel it would serve to highlight how badly paid many of the significant jobs in science/technology are, particularly in view of their extensive specialist training too. If a child can see that he can get a good salary in a short time with virtually no qualifications, then why on earth should he/she consider doing science? I recently saw a lovely advert in New Scientist for a lecturer in mathematics at a university, and they wanted someone with a PhD, lots of specialist experience in subjects x,y,z,......, plus n years of teaching experience etc etc, and then suggested a pathetic peanuts salary. No wonder mathematicians are going into banking! Anyway - food for thought :-) cheers, Dick --------------------------------------------------------------- Dr RWD Nickalls BSc, PhD, MBBS, FRCA. Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Department of Anaesthesia, TEL: 0115-9691169 Ext45637 Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust, +44-115-9691169 Ext45637 Hucknall Road, Nottingham, NG5-1PB, FAX: 0115-9627713 UK. +44-115-9627713 email: [log in to unmask] Pager: 0115-9691169 --------------------------------------------------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%