What to do about Science.

Forensic Science is one of if not the most popular science subject in UK universities. Thousands apply to do it. In my Uni it is not unusual to see a group of students out on the grass dressed up in the full gear marking of a section of grass. So what are the job prospects from such a course. Surely there must be loads of forensic science jobs in the UK. Well in fact there is very little and most go to physics or chemistry graduates. They reason they get the jobs over forensic science students is their employers want specialist. If they want some one to take and analysis samples the take the chemist if they want someone to work out crash scenes they take physicists. Even then their is not that many jobs. Even in a country with nearly five times our crime rate there is only so much crime. The forensic science graduate simple is a jack of all trades master of none. So what is it that makes forensic science so in demand when the job opportunities are so small.

Yes the answer is CSI. Forensics is sexy, cool, dangerous but so dangerous that you get hurt like a Guard. Yes forensics is it. So what can we learn from this to tell us about why science and math are not popular. First lets look at some of the disincinties to do science.

1. Its Hard. Science subjects are amongst the hardest in the Leaving Cert. The amount of work needed to get an A in a science subject compared to that in lets say geography is huge. Or at least it is perceived to be huge. With the points race the notion of a good leaving cert has switched to how many points were got. The object of the exercise is to maximize your points. And to do this students chose the subjects that do this for them. There are two possible ways to correct for this. Change the subjects or change the points system.I can’t really comment for Geography but looking at the level of undergraduate physics knowledge required and remembering my first year in Uni chemistry the amount taught in schools is more or less correct. Students simply need to know what they are being taught there is not much you can really drop from the curriculum. So can anything be added to geography and the other “soft touch” subjects to make them no longer the “soft touch”? The other course of action would be to change the points system to a course orientated model where the points varied with college course. For instance if you apply for Physics in college. Maths and Physics give double points while other subject give half points. If you apply for Classics then maths and physics give half and History and Latin (or Greek if anyone does it) give double. There by rendering the points race gone as points will vary depending on your course thus making it a type of course race.
2. The is not much money in Science. If you want to make big bucks don’t do science the money is not there. From Michael Taft.
   If money is your thing you are not going to become a scientist. There isn’t really too much you can do to combat that.
3. Coverage. The Irish Times is the only paper in the country that covers science in any detail. With its science today section. But if you compare that the the Arts coverage it givs then you really see how little coverage science gets. Mosts papers have book reviews, concert reviews, art reviews, cinema reviews, album reviews, TV reviews etc. Why? The main reason is the same reason that they had Katy French stories it is popular. People like to see what Britney Spears has done it sells papers. So to does telling people whether or not Ps, I love you is any good. The first rule of media is giving the people what they want. But as shown by CSI. (and CSI:NY and CSI Miami) what the people want and know they want are two different things.

   Without those shows would forensics be what it is today? No the exposure that forensics gets in the news and shows like CSI have shown the subject in a positive light. It has made it seem interesting, worthwhile and relevant to every day life. But possibly more importantly defined it.

When I started my physics degree people asked me what could I do with that degree and I was not fully able to answer them that question. Most other degrees have very defined well known roles. People know what lawyers, accountants, nurses, teachers do what kind of life they get, what kind of money the make. Most people know one of the above and thus can pick the degree with knowledge of what they will get. With science it is unclear the work of science is relevant but more needs to be done. Even just grouping job adds in the newspapers into the area of science might make people see what jobs are actually out there. We also need the media to cover more science and not Steorn. But actual real science. If science got half the same coverage in the media as the arts  it would be in a far more healthy state. As can be seen from forensics  the results of a little positive coverage and definition of the job.

But possibly the biggest impediment to science is the perceived and actual difficulty of it and how the points race makes the grade not the subject the goal.