I had what I would consider a specialized education as a kid. You see, I went to a high school of technology. It was a pretty great program, but it was definitely not your usual school. In most high schools, reading, writing, and history are stressed above all else. In America, our math skills tend to languish, as do our science skills. At the technology school, however, things were different. If anything, literature was deemphasized. Don't get me wrong – we still had an excellent English-language education program, but the main emphasis was on science, high technology, and shop skills.
Because of this, I was ready to continue on to a professional school of technology when I was done with high school. I was actually more prepared than most kids are. You see, we learned so many different subjects in school that other students don't have the opportunity to pursue. We were instructed in Power Point, we received classes in advanced mathematics and engineering, and we even had a shop elected where we could work on cars or other machinery. Rather than making you sit in a seat all day, learning whatever the professor feels like lecturing on, schools of technology gives you somewhat of a choice. The emphasis is on exploring your own interests rather than pursuing a set curriculum.
The school of technology was perfect for me. You see, I was fascinated with technology from the time I was young. I really couldn't have gone to a better program. I even went to school of technology summer camps where we got to study robotics. I also read science journals, and I even had my dad – a physicist – start explaining the fundamentals of relativity to me – at least as well as he could to a high school kid. I can only hope that this program is still around when I have my own kids. The school of technology has been such an excellent opportunity to me, and I would love to be able to pass it on.
Picking out the right school to go onto once I was done with high school was pretty difficult. I knew that I wanted to study something in high technology, but I had no idea how to go about it. I didn't know if it would make more sense to go to a normal University, or to a technical school. In the end, I did it all. At the technical school, I got hands on training in auto mechanics, but after that I couldn't resist going on to a more classical college education.
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