• Question: Do you feel the government is doing enough for young people who want to get into a career in science? To me you have to get to a university to stand a chance of getting a career and I feel that isn't right.

    Asked by kangster to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB, Ruth on 20 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Why isn’t it right? Whatever else science is, it’s not exclusive.

      As to the government, no their support is really really poor. They wash their hands of people when they exit university and there’s no real policy for science here. Contrast that to other nations, such as South Korea, to see what I mean…

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Hmm…it isn’t like we’re saying, you can’t do science unless you’ve gone and gotten a university degree. But you see, science isn’t something you can learn to do by watching someone else do it – like cooking for example, or car mechanics, which you can get into by doing an apprenticeship. The important thing about science is really learning how the world works, not only by memorising the facts (although that also helps) but by really understanding the rules, which will help you see what kinds of solutions will work to solve our problems and what kinds won’t. And university is really the place where you get trained to think like a scientist – you can’t really do it anywhere else! That’s why you usually need a university degree to work in science – it tells your bosses that you gone through the training and you know what you’re doing. Yes, getting to university isn’t easy, but well…science isn’t easy!

      I guess the problem with this is that university is expensive, so young people who want to do science can’t necessarily afford to go. There are scholarships and bursaries to help people who need it, but the government could definitely do a bit more – many countries in the world actually let you go to university for free!

    • Photo: Katy Brown

      Katy Brown answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Unfortunately, to work as a scientist you need to know a lot of science! You really do need to go to university to get anything but the most basic science job, because there is so much you need to learn first. This isn’t just about facts, we have to read a lot of difficult research and write a lot of our own, plus lots of scientists need advanced, specialised lab skills, maths skills or computer skills. These things would be very difficult to learn without studying at university.
      I do think the government could do more to help young people though. As well as helping to pay for university, I think it would help if there was clear advice for young people who want to be scientists about what they need to do, and what careers they should think about – this wasn’t really something that was available when I was at school.

    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      @kangster- you sound a little fed up with them (so am I!)

      I think that the government tries to push this idea of ‘you must get a degree’ far too much, when they should be concentrating on making sure that people will be able to get a job when they finish!

      Sure, having a degree helps, but there are many jobs in science which do not require one and who’s to say that if you work hard enough and dont have a degree that you won’t achieve a great career in science? It depends on what you really want to do. If you want to be a research scientist like us, then sure, it takes a lot of study and determination, but if you want to have a career ‘in science’ but not necessarily as a scientist, then there are other possibilities which may allow you to do a degree later on.

      going to university does not necessarily mean that you are entitled to a career- it doesn’t automatically make you good at something. If you are determined enough then, degree or not, you will succeed. I think this is the message that the government should be giving out to young people.

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