@listelian lab work is a sticking point with a lot of folks, I daresay. it doesn't help that there's maybe a bit too much emphasis on it. I mean, I _love_ the stuff, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the introductory lab work that gets taught is stuff that a lot of chemists are never going to have to do in their professional lives. and some things that get taught were more or less even when I was a high schooler, like old-fashioned qualitative inorganic analysis.