Saw this today and thought I would post a part of my life story.

Story that makes me think we're all going down the tubes as a society:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/kiera-wilmot-arrested-science-experiment_n_3194768.html

And the follow up that restores my faith in humanity:

http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/homer-hickam-supports-high-school-student-whose-science-project-got-her-expelled-and-arrested.html

Just saw this. Us crazy science loving high school dropouts gotta stick together. I realize that schools have a responsibility to ensure safety of students, and that she should have had a teacher present, but she was in the safest place she could think of, and trying to learn on her own. She should not be labeled a felon. She should be praised for trying to learn on her own. Just my opinion.

Keira probably won't ever see this, but if anyone else finds themselves in a similar circumstance, where they're trying to learn something on their own and doing it in the safest, most controlled environment they can think of, and things go horribly wrong, and they don't know what to do because they are now on a different path from what is "normal," I would like to share a story.

I was raised by a single mom in the 'burbs. My dad had a PhD but died when I was young. Science has always been a passion of mine. We moved a lot, twice across the country, and I ended up at a high school where I honestly felt like I was getting dumber with each passing day. In AP chemistry class we spent a month learning dimensional analysis (think converting inches to miles), there was no band or choir, the assignments in all but pre-calculus class seemed like they were designed for middle schoolers rather than high schoolers, and they probably were. It was awful. So I asked my mom what I should do about the frustration of going to school and not learning anything.

She told me to leave. Go to college.

I met with an academic counselor for the first time in my life and he told me that if I left high school I would never get a job, that others would look down on me for the rest of my life, and essentially I would be a failure.

I chose not to believe him.

It was too late to enroll in the spring semester so I spent my time volunteering at the Red Cross and started reading the chapters in textbooks that they always skip in high school classes. It turns out that chapter 3 from the high school chemistry book we were using was an introduction to quantum mechanics. I thought, "What!? What is that all about?" So I read it. And I found a new hobby: theoretical physics. That stuff is cool. I didn't have the math, but I loved the concepts. This was before you could find anything you want on the internet so I took the metro into Boston and went to Harvard's bookstore to find books on the subject. They have some good stuff on the subject. I also found out that metaphysics is not about physics but philosophy, and that it is also pretty cool. I used my passion for learning to learn about whatever I wanted. I also picked up a GED one weekend. Just to make sure that my paperwork would be in order for college applications.

In the fall I enrolled in the local community college and studied music, another passion of mine. I loved it. It turns out that in college you can pick classes that you want to take and if you are disappointed with the class you can drop it and find a teacher you like better. One that will teach you what you want to know. It was liberating. While in college I also became an Eagle Scout. It is possible to do things you want to do even if others think you can't do them.

After community college I served a mission for my church, basically spending 2 years giving service and talking to people about my beliefs. It was amazingly rewarding.

After that I went to University, and despite what my academic counselor warned me about I went to a pretty good one. I did scientific research, discovered things about myself, and had a great time. I also got married, which was and still is awesome. It was an amazing journey that still continues, as I am now finishing my first year of medical school.

That's right. The kid raised by a single mom who moved around a lot and dropped out of high school is going to be a doctor. I love science, learning, and above all helping people, so I decided to be a doctor. No matter your circumstances you can make things happen. Even if people tell you that you can't. When someone tells you something is not possible, if they predict a bad future for you, that's not a fact, it's a challenge.

Life is hard. Life is good. Life is what you make it.

As a piece of advice, I have included an observation below that has helped me immensely.

When I was young, my mother told me frequently to consider the source. I have tried to do this throughout my life, and somewhere in there I learned that most people do not know what they do not know. Most people do not know the difference between correlation and causation, or how to verify if information is correct, or even how to find out if a source is reliable. I have learned that information is usually about as valuable as it is difficult to obtain. If you are told something shocking, something ground breaking, something that "all the experts don't want you to know" or something that seems too good to be true, do not trust it. Learn to learn on your own. This one skill will get you further in life than any other single thing. Learn to find information from trustworthy sources on your own. And remember that experts that are not in the business world have nothing to gain by keeping secrets. For example, the internet ads that say, "Language teachers hate this guy for figuring out how to teach people a new language quickly!" That's just not true. Language teachers have devoted their lives to teaching people how to communicate. If there's a faster, easier way to do this, they want to spread that around as much as possible. If people say that vaccines are going to kill you or give you autism because they have mercury in them, look at death rates from before vaccines and after and realize that infant mortality is 0.01% of what they were 100 years ago. And that mercury hasn't been used in vaccines in 15 years, and that when it was it was a non-harmful isotope. They changed the definition of autism (expanded the definition to include milder symptoms than used to be included in the autism spectrum), and autism "rates" "increased". Neither of those words apply in this situation. See how a little information goes a long way? These people are trying to help but are so woefully uninformed that they are causing harm. Lack of education can be dangerous. Educate yourself. Be the one that can make a difference by being informed. This will get you places, but only if you can communicate effectively.