Let me preface this by saying I am a state(CA) and nationally certified radiologic technologist in both x-ray and nuclear medicine technology. I’d also like to say I don’t think a lot of people posting to this thread know what they’re talking about. First of all, it’s radiologic technologist not technician. A technician is someone who pushes buttons and fixes electronic equipment. A technologist is someone who is involved with science, in this case medical science. To the person who said their wife was a “nuke tech”, no, it’s not just pushing buttons, I have taken multiple physics, chemistry and math classes and I use them all every day. Being a radiologic or nuclear technologist involves a lot more than just pushing buttons. As a radiologic technologist you need to be able to use specialized equipment to measure radioactive emissions(in radiologic technologist positions that means x-rays in nuclear that means gamma rays(radiology comprises a lot more than that of course, there are radio waves for MRI techs, sounds waves for ultrasound techs, etc)), you also need to be skilled in venipuncture, drug calculations, patient care, anatomy, physiology, health administration, pharmacology and lots of other things. In my job the physicians I work under rely on me to give them timely analysis of the studies I do. For example if I get called in to do an emergency study, the physician relies on me to let them know if the patient needs immediate care or not. In the daily job I do(doing scans on patient’s hearts) they need me to let them know if a patient needs to be admitted right away for emergency angioplasty or bypass surgery, or if the patient can wait for pharmacologic therapy or no therapy at all. To the OP: Who are you to say your sister isn’t smart enough to learn all these things? I think you should encourage her to go into the field, as it is a challenging and rewarding job . I agree with the posters saying your sister can do the job, I disagree with those of you who say it is merely a “button pushing job”. Whatever you sister’s age or knowledge level right now, I would encourage her to pursue a job in radiology without your assistance and without your prejudice.
Also, ditto what Zoe said. Someone who goes into this field needs to be able to do it on their own. No one wants to be cared for by someone who was walked through their courses.
Listen for 15 minutes and then tell her you’re tired of hearing her complain. Don’t do her homework. Seriously, she shouldn’t be so dependent on you to finish her education. Pushing her into a field where you can continue to take care of her is not the solution.
Life is a journey, every step can lead somewhere, even if its not where we expect. Starting a radiography program may be what she needs to do to find her calling, even if its not radiography. I have a friend who dropped out of nursing to go into social work, I think she needed to do that semester of nursing to find social work.
And, what Harriet said.
(underlining mine) That sounds like something Sis doesn’t want to do. And Demo, if I’m reading things correctly, Sis is one of those people who think your job consists of “pushing buttons” and that you never get called to do a thoracic X-ray on someone who’s just been in a car crash.
That said, I’m the eldest, but Middlebro wouldn’t take advice from either sibling if it killed him. If that’s the case with your sister, all you can do is say “sorry, no can do” when she comes asking you to enable her. Think of it as saving her patients’ lives: either she learns to swim by herself, or switches channels; in either case, the patients win.
In our economic system, there is no job that is easy to get into, easy to do, and pays a lot of money. Or if there is one, it can’t be that way for more than a couple of years.
Why? Because a lot of people would want that job. Supply and demand says that, if lots of people want the job but there are a finite number of openings for it, the pay goes down. Why should any employer pay you a lot of money when they could easily go out and find three or four people willing and able to do your job for less money? There would also be a lot of people trying to train for that job, and only so many teachers and schools to train them, that it would end up being very hard to get into a training program.
Something here is not how your sister thinks it is.
Hahahahahahahaha! (bitter, cynical, somewhat-crazed laugh)
If sociology is anything like astronomy (and I don’t know if it is), it’s not easy to get a job as a professor. Mr. Neville has just gotten through two years of job searching, and finally found a job as a professor, and it was NOT easy. Just as an example- there was an Astrophysics Job Rumors wiki that we used to visit regularly. It mentioned one position, at a college neither of us had ever heard of (definitely not one of the top astronomy schools in the country), getting 250 applicants for one opening as a professor. I haven’t heard anything about the social sciences, but I’ve heard that the situation in the liberal arts is worse.
Maybe get her an “Algebra for Dummies” type book? I’ve found most of the Dummies books to be good at demystifying subjects that I find incomprehensible and intimidating. Might be a little awkward to give her a Dummies book as a gift, though…
Another older sister with a younger sister seconding this. Your family dynamics come into play here, too. If she always felt that your parents were prouder of your accomplishments than they were of hers, that might make it harder for her to take advice from you. She’d be admitting, in a way, that you and her parents were right and she was wrong all along, and that’s never an easy thing for anyone.
At the college where I work, we recently had about 150 applications for a position in the sociology department. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, if she has a family to support, getting her PhD and doing the adjunct circuit while she tries to get a tenure-track job would not be a financially smart thing to do.
Has your sister looked into paralegal work? This combines the certification for a specific job aspect with the legal aspect. It’s readily converted into a job and does not emphasize math or biology.
Just throwin’ in out there.
“Radiography? That’s perfect for me—I love listening to the radio!”
Good suggestion. I was also thinking court reporter. I understand they make quite decent pay and there’s a bit of a shortage. She’ll only have to write* about grisly accidents. 
As far as that goes, even we legal secretaries make a quite decent dollar nowadays. I attribute it to people not pursuing this field because of the “secretary” onus which has arisen over the past couple of decades. There’s a shortage of qualified younger people coming along to replace us old English and business majors. And you don’t have to be an algebra or science expert.