My parents don't seem to agree with what I want to do as a career in the future?

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!!amy nicole!!

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I want to work with animals or at least work with the environment - that's the main thing. The problem is that my parents are scientists, and while I like science, I would not want to do the kind of science they do - doing experiments in a laboratory in microbiology. I want to study nature live interacting with it, not closed inside a room. But when they asked me about it, and I told them I wanted to work with the animals or the environment, like as a zookeeper, parkranger, etc. - they just laugh it off. I believe that they think I haven't really thought about it, but I have - I would like to study animals and nature in their natural environment. Also, it seems they disapprove of it because it doesn't require a huge education - but I don't need a big career that pays a lot with a high placement to be happy. Also, if I want to study the environment, what general courses should I take? Thanks for any help, it will be greatly appreciated.
 
For zookeeping positions, a high school diploma is required. More zoos are now hiring zookeepers with a college degree in a natural science (biology, zoology, wildlife management, animal behavior, marine biology, exotic animal management/zookeeping). While not always required, a college degree is advantageous in the competitive field of zookeeping. However, in the zookeeping field, experience is valuable. You will find it difficult to impossible to get hired as a zookeeper without experience. Some ways to gain zookeeping experience include, volunteering, doing internships, or taking on seasonal or intermittent/temporary zookeeping positions. At Woodland Park Zoo, in order to be eligible for a zookeeper position, you must have two years (approximately 4,000 hours) of paid experience in an AZA—(Association of Zoos & Aquariums) accredited facility. This paid experience may include hours earned as an intermittent/temporary keeper. Although zookeeping is not a high-paying career, not is there much room for advancement as there might be in a corporation, there is stiff competition for zookeeping positions. Most zookeepers have put in many years of volunteer or low-wage work before obtaining full-time, permanent zookeeper positions.
 
You should look for schools that have bio science, zoology, or environmental science as degrees. You can google universities that will have what you need. You definitely should pick a career that makes you happy. I picked a career path that I thought I should choose not what I wanted, and it brought so much stress I had to quit. Follow your dreams.
 
If you have thought about what you really want to do and from what you have said I think you certainly have, just stick with it. They should not expect you to follow their career pattern simply because that's what they have chosen to do. You have a goal and that is the main thing and if you were my son I would be happy with that and so should your parents.
 
Parents are like that. They want what they think is best for you. Just tell them that you will take their opinions into consideration. You can do what you have in mind with just a high school education. After all, how much education do you need to shovel up animal dung day after day after day? However, you will do better, even in those fields, with a college degree. While you are on your way to that degree, get summer or after-school jobs in the fields you find interesting. You may decide that those jobs are interesting or that they are boring. Either way, the experience will be valuable. You might decide that you need advanced degrees to go into the career you want. I did. There is still a lot of indoor work to be done but the bulk of my work is done out in the field.
 
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