The case for science and technology

One look at the enrolment statistics of most universities today shows a very clear pattern. The same pattern also emerges when we look at the number of students in the different streams of education when entering ninth grade. It is a pattern that should cause us as a nation no little amount of concern. It is a pattern that shows that the vast majority of our future workforce is focusing on the short term, taking the easy way out and not challenging themselves to really make a difference in the world.

What is this ominous pattern? All around the country, the number of high school students choosing to study science is dwindling every year. More and more students are choosing to go into arts or commerce, usually the latter, with the eventual objective of getting a degree in business administration and working for a bank or a multinational corporation. Of the students who are actually studying science in SSC and HSC, a sizable portion are still choosing not to stay in a science or engineering discipline at the university level. Instead they are going for the promise of easier opportunities and better lifestyle offered by a degree in business administration, economics, or the likes.

Why do I consider this to be an undesirable thing? There are many reasons one could propose as the answer to that question, and each of these reasons could be vastly elaborated on by someone better versed than I am. I fear how much justice I will be able to do to the matter, but let me go ahead and try anyway.

First of all, let us consider what this current trend means for Bangladesh over the next few decades. The majority of our most promising students are choosing to go into service with corporations and businesses. This means that at some point in the future, there will be a severe crisis of science graduates – in both quality and quantity. This in turn will mean a decline in the standard of science education, leading to even lesser enrolment figures. Thus we end up with a vicious cycle – students do not study science because they are not happy with the standard of teaching, and the standard of teaching keeps declining because the promising students are not getting specialised education in science.

This, of course, may not seem like a very important reason as far as the individual student is concerned. The student might feel, with every right, that he or she should be more concerned about his/her own career prospects than the long term impact on the entire nation. But then one could argue that what is bad for the nation as a whole is eventually also bad for the individual, but let us save that argument for later. Instead, let us investigate this assumption that a degree in business equals better opportunities.

It is true that a good number of business graduates are getting lucrative jobs fresh out of school, often with salaries and perks that are better than what is available to the science and engineering graduates. However, a few things need to be kept in perspective. In most universities I know something about, the number of students in the business school far outweighs that in any other department. For every student of engineering, there are probably five students in the business school. On the part of the school, taking on more students is less of an overhead in the business school than, say, in the school of engineering. This is due to the lesser of lab facilities for students in the business school.

What does this entail? This means that for every business graduate we see getting a good job offer straight out of school, there are probably several others who are not as satisfied with their career prospects. When comparing the opportunities business graduates are getting compared to those in other fields, we also need to look at the ratio of students getting these opportunities.

My intention is not to in any manner denigrate getting a business education. However, as someone who has been teaching in a major private university for nearly five years, I do believe it is important to take a balanced and objective view of the costs and benefits of any degree instead of just going with the flow.

Coming back to the question of opportunities, as an academic person I would also be interested in the academic prospects of any degree. What proportion of business graduates are going for higher education in one of the top 100 schools around the world? How many of them are doing so with a scholarship of some other form of financial support from the school or some other source? How does this proportion compare to that for students of science and engineering?

Again, I do not claim to know these answers. However, I would like to see some analysis regarding these questions, and a more informed comparison of the pros and cons of both science and business degrees at the undergraduate level. What I can add is that to the best of my knowledge, most students receiving full financial support for graduate programmes in highly esteemed schools happen to be from a science background. Let me also add that to the best of my knowledge, Computer Science is the only subject where people have completed their undergraduate degrees in Bangladesh and directly gone on to work in major industry players like Microsoft or Google.

The point I am trying to make is that the kind of opportunities that come with a business degree may be good, but they are not exponentially better than those offered in other fields. Further, the few extraordinary prospects we hear about are often not representative of the general trend. Often the academic opportunities are somewhat lacking in a business education compared to a science or engineering programme. Even in the arena of employment, a degree in engineering might start off with less fanfare but often offers better benefits in the long term. Thus one might want to dig in a little more before concluding that business schools are a better choice as far as career prospects are concerned.

However, let us move away from the discourse on which degree offers a better career. After all, while career prospects should be a parameter, I strongly believe that it should not be the only or even the most important parameter. One must always consider how one’s choice of education can enable them to contribute to society. It is in this context that the importance of a good number of students entering the various disciplines of science really becomes clear. Let us then discuss this now.

To survive in today’s knowledge era, a nation can no longer just invest in the industrial era paradigm. Nor is it enough to only offer services, no matter how diverse in nature. This is the era of the knowledge worker, of those who offer an intellectual contribution. It has become accepted knowledge now that a country must invest in intellectual growth in order to survive and thrive. No country can make do only with business functions. The economic leadership of the world demands a certain level of scientific and technological maturity, which in turn requires that our future workforce focuses on the science and technology of the times.

In one of the most famous science fiction sagas of all time, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, the author portrays a decadent empire where nobody wants to engage in original intellectual contribution anymore. Everyone is content with living on the achievements of past scholars, without any intention of ever trying anything new. This eventually leads to the decline and fall of this mighty empire.

To everyone who is shaking their heads about how that is just fiction, ‘Foundation’ was modelled after the decadent and indolent intellectual environment of The Roman Empire and its eventual fall.

In more recent times, Bill Gates expressed concern that the poor quality of science education in the USA could eventually lead to the US losing their position as world leaders in technology. He said this about a decade ago. A look around in our present times does a lot to corroborate his views. Today some of the most advanced devices and gadgets are all being produced outside the USA, and they seem to have adopted the passive role of being consumers and salesmen. The problem with being the salesman is that the producer can always replace you, but not vice versa.

I have done my best in this writing to forward some of the most prominent reasons why I feel that more and more students should be choosing to study science and engineering. While my knowledge of this matter is surely limited, both my job and my voluntary activities have given me the opportunity to see and think a lot about this topic from many dimensions. It is this that has given me the courage to undertake this writing in the first place.

To reiterate, I do not feel that getting a business degree is the best option even if one is only interested in career prospects. Provided one is good at it, a science or engineering major offers equal if not better opportunities in the industry, often with more opportunities for growth. Further, statistically speaking, it seems that if one cares about academic opportunities, a degree in science or engineering makes more sense.

Moving on from individual concerns, Bangladesh holds all the promise of being an economically promising country over the next decade or so. If this is to happen though, it must happen on the shoulders of science and technology, Information Technology in particular. Almost every country that has gone on to be a major player in the world arena in the last two decades has done so through their investment in technology, not their business sector. I am not downplaying the role of the salesman. I am simply saying one must first find a great product.

With this piece, I have only had an opportunity to compare the business stream with the science and technology stream. Within the latter though, there are distinctions that also merit discussion. I hope to write about that at length some other day. For today, let me end here with one last rerun of the message I most wish to convey – whether you seek personal rewards or wish to contribute something of value to your nation, go into science or engineering. It will be tough. It will demand a lot of hard work. But I can assure you, you will enjoy every day of a life thus spent!

Source: bd news24