• Question: Do you believe that Science should be a mandatory subject for the Junior Cert?

    Asked by aoifeomara to Arlene, Colin, David, Eugene, Paul on 12 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: David McKeown

      David McKeown answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Yes, I think it is important that everyone has some understanding of science. Not everyone who sits in a science class will choose career in science, but understanding a little bit about what science is about important. It is equally important that people interested in science learn about things like art and music. Having an education system which creates balanced people full of imagination and curiosity is what it is all about.

    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      I agree it should be mandatory. Our society relies on scientific discoveries and new technologies a lot, so knowing how discoveries are made, as well as how the world works is very important. For instance the government has to make laws about whether we can clone people, or be allowed to do stem cell research- so they need to understand the science behind these things in order to make decisions about them.

Comments

  • Arlene O Neill commented on :

    YES!!!! I believe this very strongly because I went to a school where it wasn’t mandatory for two years. Then I moved house in my junior cert year. It was mandatory in the new school for all JC students to study science so I had to take it up. At the time I really wasn’t pleased about it, but now look at me. I went on to do a degree and PhD in Physics. I love science and I couldn’t be happier trying to understand how the world works. I love knowing why the sky is blue and why grass is not actually green 😀