Michelle Dickinson and husband Joe are expecting twins. Photo: Woman's Day/Michelle Hyslop
Michelle Dickinson and husband Joe are expecting twins. Photo: Woman's Day/Michelle Hyslop
Dr Michelle Dickinson has been recognised as one of the country's top science communicators and educators. Now, for the first time, she's revealed that her passion for education has been shaped by her own failures in the traditional school system.
Dickinson has become a household name thanks to her '"Nanogirl" brand that helps educate students across the country on science. She also has a PhD in biomedical and materials engineering, and is a published author, host of the Herald's Science Digest podcast, and has received numerous accolades for her science communication, including being made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
However, speaking on the New Zealand Herald's new podcast, Ask Me Anything, Dickinson opened up for the first time to host Paula Bennett about how this passion for science has come as a result of her dropping out of high school.
Paula Bennett, left, and Dr Michelle Dickinson record the NZ Herald podcast, Ask Me Anything. Photo / Mike Scott
"It's really hard for me as a positive role model who's got a PhD in all these certificates and all these degrees that people just have assumed that I am quite academic and school was my thing - and it wasn't."
Dickinson, who was born and raised in England, said she was raised in a very poor area to teenage parents who didn't have a high school education, and arrived at school as a very slow reader and writer - something she said followed her throughout her education.
"When you get to school at the age of 5, they assess you, and they make an assumption about you pretty much for the rest of your life. You're in that box. Every time you're passed on to the next teacher it's 'oh, there's Michelle, she's the slow reader'.
"And so rather than go, what do we do to build her up, they just go, 'oh, she'll just always be behind'."
Her mother worked in hospitality her whole life, and career advisers told Dickinson that was the same career path she'd follow through on, and that these low expectations were placed on her and many of her classmates because of their circumstances.
"What was funny is my hobby at home was tinkering and pulling apart things and learning how to fix them because we had no money. There's no subject in school that you were tested on that says, can you figure out how something works and fix it? And that was my strength, that was my skill. But I valued myself on, did I do well on my English test? And the answer is no."
Eventually, Dickinson dropped out of high school after not getting good enough grades in her exams, and ended up working at a sports store. She managed to get into a hands-on polytechnic through a UK scheme called "clearing", that allows students without grades to apply for open slots in courses.
"So I could build my solutions. I could go, 'I know the answer to this, let me build it, not write it'. And I wished that at school, somebody had seen that I wasn't a great reader or writer, but I was a great hands-on builder of things, And that was my strength.
Dr Michelle Dickinson has opened up on why she is so passionate about education. Photo / Mike Scott.
"So the reason why I'm so passionate about education now is because our brains are different, and we learn in different ways and I'm not sure we always celebrate those different learning styles."
Bennett, who also thrived in her career despite failing school, said it is a powerful message to get out there for parents and students alike.
"You have a story to tell it's that that is really powerful for a lot of parents and young people that are struggling at the moment and think that their future is already written because they're not doing that while at school.
Dickinson said that her research for her book, No 8 Recharged, found that over 90 per cent of some of New Zealand's top 200 inventors dropped out of school or university.
After years of hustle building her company, Dickinson will soon be taking a break as she is currently pregnant with twins. Dickinson told Bennett that her and her husband, Joe, have gone through eight IVF cycles and had experienced several miscarriages on their fertility journey.
She said that it has been a difficult experience, with the grief different for each person in the relationship.
"I knew I was pregnant when I was pregnant every time, and then losing a baby, it's devastating. Joe always said it felt really hard because he never got to feel that or connect to that. He felt very isolated sometimes, and then his devastation was very different to mine, as mine was a physical pain as well as a mental one for him."
Dickinson said that she is being open about her fertility journey is so people can feel more comfortable talking about their experiences.
"Up to one in four couples in New Zealand are suffering with infertility and we don't have these big conversations. So Joe and I are very open about our journey and how it shouldn't be taboo anymore and it should be okay to go to your doctors early and actually learn about some of this stuff."
Listen to the full podcast above for more from Paula and Michelle.
• Ask Me Anything is a NZ Herald podcast, hosted by Paula Bennett. New episodes are out every Sunday.
