What to study in high school?

C_J · Post by **C_J** » 23 Jan 2006, 18:42

I am about to leave school in a few months and have to choose what to do in high school. At this moment I am thinking about studying an exotic language such as Chinese (which is interesting because of the economic situation), Japanese or Russian. All other options are open because I did not make my decision yet.

What do you think about this? Personal experiences or recommendations?
This is of course very important for me as I will choose what to do in the next 50 years of my life!

Thanks!

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 23 Jan 2006, 19:36

Well, if you like airplanes, why not get an airport job?
That's what I want to do. Make sure you will feel comfortable with the job you will do.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 23 Jan 2006, 19:51

Well I'm facing the same situation in June, but I'm probably going to study Tourism on high school, ideal if you want to do a peoples contact job.

Vinnie-Winnie · Post by **Vinnie-Winnie** » 23 Jan 2006, 20:15

MMM if I were you I wouldn't study languages! Not that they are not useful or interesting, just that it is a hell of a lot harder to find a job with such a degree, even though U will have studied hard!

My advise would be: do something with plenty opportunities, preferably applied stuff!

Post by **airbuske** » 24 Jan 2006, 19:06

No no ! Study what YOU would like to do ! Not what others think what you have to do.

That's the only thing I can say.

C_J · Post by **C_J** » 24 Jan 2006, 21:56

airbuske wrote:No no ! Study what YOU would like to do ! Not what others think what you have to do.

Of course but it's interesting to get some information from people, before making a decision, I want to know all options.

Does anybody know something about the level of difficulty of exotic languages (like Chinese or Russian)? I heard several comments about it. I also think that if one has studied Chinese, a long term (like a few years)visit in China is necessary for job reasons and I don't know if I'm interested in doing so.

So many possibilities...

AFApresident · Post by **AFApresident** » 25 Jan 2006, 13:54

High School in English is "middelbaar of secundair onderwijs" in dutch. You want to pursue a higher education degree, by going to college or university.

My advice.

1) study something you are interested in AND
2) study to get a useful degree (history may be interesting, but unless you are good enough to become a professor or want to become a history teacher, this is not the thing you should be studying.)

That being said, anything with exact sciences, business or economics and engineering or IT should be the areas of study I would choose from. Tourism may be good as well. But I wouldn't do languages unless that is the only subject in which you excell and are interested in.

Languages, psychology, history, political sciences, may all be very interesting, but they are not really the degrees which will make it easy for you to find a job.

If you like history and a little economics, then rather than studying history I would consider trying to study economical sciences or something similar (and then you can pick some options on the history of economics, about the theories ranging from the monetarists, the Keynesians, Classicals or learn about social and welfare economics).

C_J · Post by **C_J** » 25 Jan 2006, 19:43

Thanks for the reactions.

CaptainEd · Post by **CaptainEd** » 25 Jan 2006, 20:02

I shot my way out of Sewanhaka HS on Long Island in 1949. It was a great school back then.

I majored in Aeronautics, and a lot of the class LAB time was model airplane building, which was a piece of cake for me, so I got high enough grades to qualify me for the USMMA Kings Point, from which I got orders to Navy flight training in 1953.

If you are serious about flying, I would look into the science and engineering courses.