A lot of countries across the world have witnessed that students are not interested in opting for Science as a course to study. There could be several causes to such a problem but, in my opinion, a couple dominating reasons are lack of funding and return on investment.
Money is a concerning factor for all. This is regardless of one’s financial status. The only difference is the magnitude of worry. I strongly consider the lack of sufficient funds as an emphatic reason for a student to not pursue Science. Universites that offer a comprehensive program are often expensive and for a student to be placed in such a Univerisity for less fees needs them to secure a good scholarship. In my view, only some of the brightest students can achieve that. But what about the students that have decent academic grades but have a passion to make an impact on the field of Science? They end up choosing a major that is economical. For instance, A number of postgrads in Korea gave up on the idea of taking up scientific research because it was just too hard to support themselves financially while studying an such intensive subject. There is a documentary on the internet that delves into the lives of such students. It is shown on the programme that they often wonder what all of this is for.
This brings me to the potential return on investment for Science enthusiasts. Science is a complex area of study. Not everyone can be fruitful. After decades of investment of time and youth, Scientists almost render their lives useless after futile attempts at proving something to exist. I’d like to take Dr Sheldon Cooper as an example. A child prodigy who eventually became an experimental physicist worked on dark matter for years until he hit a road block and decided to take a step back and re-evaluate his entire career.
The lack of reserchers in the field of Science will lead to a society that will pay more heed to the reasons that cause Science to be an extremely hard field to enter and try to curb them. Ultimately, this will lead to more children who would gladly consider the subject as a major and bring laurels to their nation through significant breakthroughs.
In conclusion, I am convinced that less students consider Science a far-fetched idea because of how costly it is to choose it as a career path and the results it will produce.