Comments on: Science In Ireland

By: Taxing Attitudes . at Irish Election

Taxing Attitudes . at Irish Election — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 23:23:57 +0000

[...] Now being a physicist I think it is a great idea. But what of the idea? There is much talk about the countries need for more scientist and the fact that the wages are not decent enough to encourage kids to take up science in University. And this would have the effect of changing people attitudes towards science even if the wages did not match that of the other industries, the effect would be similar to the plastic bag tax. The attitude would be changed even if the financial situation changed little. People would perceive themselves as being better off. Perception is everything. [...]

By: Dan Sullivan

Dan Sullivan — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:46:37 +0000

I suspect his problem is that many computer folk are engineers!

By: Tuathal

Tuathal — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:28:59 +0000

Oh come on Simon!

We computer scientists are scientists too!

By: mollie malone

mollie malone — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:35:59 +0000

Isadub

i am delighted to hear someone express such a view on science
someone close to me has emigrated to london aged 29 to work as a senior administrator in a london council rather than use her chemistry doctorate here or anywhere else

she saw through the system pretty quickly working at a british university and decided two years was enough, working for what i insist as describing as “a drug dealer”

she is earning decent money and always had the attitude that she worked to live not the reverse
-exploitation is the name of the game- once you cotton on to that youre flying -out the door

the people who talk up this subject want to fill the places in their college and conveniently dont speak about the other side of it

your letter descibes the system to a tee

By: isadub

isadub — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:33:33 +0000

I’m a scientist who’s doesn’t wear a labcoat anymore, although I’m involved in the business side of science now. I am/was a biologist so I may not count as a ‘scientist’ but I reckon there’s two main reasons why science is not as popular as it should be.

1. Money. 4 years for a primary degree, then a Masters and/or PhD. Then a ‘trainee’ postdoc. Outside of medicine, how many other professions involve such a tortuous/lengthy path to a ‘full-time’ job. Tradionally, in science, you did one post-doc and then got tenure somewhere. Nowadays, it takes 2 or 3 postdocs (~10 years?) before you get tenure. Effectively, you’re 30-something before you have a ‘proper’ job. And in today’s Ireland, that’s not practical. Ask your partner about no house/VHI/pension/company car etc until you’re 30-something!

2. Boredom. Outside of academia, science is often boring or routine. My favourite was a chemist MSc friend who got a job in a local Pharma company. His job was to do ‘dissolution tests’ on tablets. As I’ve said already, I’m a biologist, but the way it was explained to me was that he dropped a tablet into solution and timed how long it took to dissolve. Now, personally, this is not a job that would motivate me to get out of bed everyday for the rest of my life!

It shouldn’t be difficult to get people interested in science. I had to mind a friend’s 8 yr old child for an afternoon a couple of weeks ago. She watered the plants in my garden by watering the leaves. I explained to her that plants ‘drink’ water through their roots in the ground. She re-filled the watering can and watered the roots. Children have an inherent curiosity but teenagers/leaving cert students are thinking about their future.

Until there’s a realistic career path, they won’t choose science as a career.