Letter: Lack of chemistry between students and science
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Your leading article 'The cost of neglecting science' (20 August) draws attention to the swing away from science subjects among A- level students, a problem that has existed for almost all of my working life.
In the late Sixties the research directors of a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies had the imagination and foresight to see that science lessons could be enlivened by putting extra resources into the hands of teachers. Considerable sums of money were poured into producing superb films, booklets and teaching aids that helped science teachers to hold their own against the siren calls of the arts subjects, economics and business studies.
Many of us are still at it, promoting physics or engineering or (in my case) chemistry to young pupils. But the industrial support has fallen away in recent years so that many excellent projects struggle to survive.
Physics and chemistry may be quite difficult subjects to study at A-level, but they are also magical, rewarding and wonderful in the true sense of that word. There's no shortage of ideas or enthusiasm for promoting them. My simple message to any industrialist worried about the future harvest of qualified scientists and engineers is 'spend some money on seed corn'.
Yours sincerely,
BOB FINCH
The Chemistry Club
Guilden Morden, Hertfordshire
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments