Science is Funky

Posted by Simon Davies May 3, 2007

Lots of these blog posts are about science education. I don't apologise for that because science education determines the future of science.

I feel so sorry for teachers in the UK who keep getting directives from above about what they should teach and what they should not teach, accompanied by extra paperwork to do which makes their lives even more difficult.

The House of Lords is worried that school students are preferring to study "funky" subjects like psychology and media studies at A-level instead of chemistry or physics,and schools are encouraging them to do it so that league table scores remain higher!

This ridiculous system of paperwork and tests must stop, because there are less and less scientists in the world than there used to be, when we need far more. Technological progress is growing at a remarkable rate and we need new young scientists to understand, develop and sometimes protect against such advances.

So an appeal to governments who love to create red-tape: Let our teachers concentrate on teaching science in a stimulating and funky way instead of burying them in paperwork!