This all lines up perfectly with my and my spouse’s experiences in academic science. Even taking undergrad researchers in the lab is often more trouble than it’s worth. Most profs do that out of duty, at least in part. Like why would they take on HS students when they have a duty to the undergrads at their own school and even that’s a big pain much (not all) of the time.
One of my spouse’s (excellent) undergrad students is planning on summer research, but has applied for an REU position elsewhere this summer. Spouse just said “well if he gets the REU I could hire another undergrad”. Then the smile and eye twinkles emerged: “Or, I could just not hire another one and do that part myself instead!” Wrangling even excellent undergrads takes so. much. energy.
This all varies by lab. But even PhD students can be a net drain for a while until they’re producing a lot of quality data.
To be honest, I’ve had to toss out nearly all the work from undergrads in the labs I’ve worked in over the years because the quality just isn’t high enough. We’re talking wonderful, smart, dedicated students. Experimental results, data analysis, etc. Most (not all) of it just can’t be used. I consider working in the lab an important experience for them, and that’s why I take them. Every once in a while you get one that does things that you can publish. Usually that’s work that they’ve done under direct supervision. The more independent research is typically done incorrectly by undergrads because science is hard and you can’t do it right just by following a to-do list.
High schoolers are a whole 'nother level. No offense to them, they are just young and inexperienced, and a liability. I wouldn’t have even let my own very responsible kid work in my lab in HS. Official research programs designed to place HS students in-person in labs are fine. I wouldn’t take a HS student outside of one of those programs. To everyone here: I don’t mean your kids. Yours are different.
In my daughter’s case, she was under the direction of a post-doc. I think much of her first summer was spent timing how long it took lab rats to die under different circumstances. Once she got past that mental block of watching rats die, it was pretty boring for her. The post-doc was happy because he didn’t have to do that anymore. And she proved herself enough to get invited back for more summers and got more responsibility.
Yikes! That seems horrible, but I’m glad your D had the guts to stick with it. (Warning, don’t read further if creepy crawlies gross you out.)
I know a young woman who is graduating from college this year. Last summer, she worked in a lab with bats. She quickly had to conquer any aversion she had to the experiment being done on them. But she found it super interesting.
I’m not an AO, but read other stuff from time to time. Whenever I see this, I always stop, take the time to google and pull the article to see what is going on. Having done time in different labs, I’m very critical.
As a tuition paying parent, I’d be upset if my kid’s institution was hiring HS students over undergrads from the institution. My oldest, now a senior, has worked on the same project since freshman year with the same prof. Hoping for publication of an article this year–already has abstracts and posters. An article takes a long time. I’m always a little taken aback when I read about HS students publishing articles, especially those who claim to be first or second authors. It seems very implausible to me,.
They are also the types of kids who will almost certainly have multiple acceptances to elite colleges or be recipients of fabulous scholarships (Jack Cooke Kent, Gates, Coca Cola, etc…). For these students, I am assuming it will be very obvious that they are not engaged in pay to play research.