Where have all the scientists gone?

It’s hard to avoid the Young Scientists competition at this time of year. The papers are full of it, as is the blogosphere, which is no bad thing – it’s a very positive story about the potential young Irish people have. Sadly what makes the story so exceptional seems to be the contrast with late summer pronouncements on the death of sciences in Ireland.

Which leads me to wonder what happens to our young scientists after this magical week in January. The wiki entry for the exhibition gives a nice list of previous winners and a few updates on where they are now, though the list only goes back as far as 1998 so maybe a bit more digging is needed to see if anything comes of these people. The RDS is currently overflowing with 15 year olds, at least a percentage of whom are there out of genuine interest. The rest must surely be encouraged by the distractions available, and the standard of the projects suggests that ability certainly isn’t a problem.

Somewhere between the RDS and the CAO bad things are happening.

Funding is being poured into scientific research in colleges – the latest batty announcement confirms as much – but surely it’s a level below that that needs to be very seriously looked at if that’s where the potential is (being lost).

In August, Donald Clarke wrote a great piece about our national/societal attitude to numeracy – which seems all the more relevant as the gloom gets gloomier and the focus on a ’smart economy’ seems more and more like empty spin. We cannot compete with countries who will pay workers €3 per hour where we charge €10. But, based on evidence on show in the RDS this week, we can compete between the ears with anyone who cares to come knocking. Ireland as a society, and as an economy, badly needs to go beyond the spin and the belief that our knowledge economy has been going great for ages (if it was then what happened?) and start getting this right.

I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me on this, but nonetheless: Science can’t be optional.

I would include maths and technology in the wider science bracket, and say that every 18 year old in the country should have a leaving cert qualification in at least one ’science’. The maths curriculum needs to escape dumbing-down and instead needs to be talked up and then taught-up. Ditto the sciences.

Which probably means investment. Chemistry and physics books are not fun. Making chemicals blow up in a classroom while dropping weights off the side of your desk for experimental purposes? Lovely stuff. Sell that to the 16 year olds. Keep them in those classrooms, keep their brains ticking over, and then, crucially, get jobs into the country that they can work in afterwards.

I may be wrong about this, but anyone I know who studied science has ended up either (a) becoming a teacher (b) studying for a phD, and still at it six years later, or (c) abroad, working in the field they studied but far, far from home. Where’s option (d) walking into the IDA-stamped job that was waiting for them at the end of their physics degree?

Science isn’t for everyone, that’s a given. But science should at the very least be made accessible to everyone. Quicksmart.