Science Complex Renderings	Online Giving
Why Science?	Progress To Date
Top 10 Reasons for Excellence	Floor Plan
Math and Science Partnership Aids Area Students	Case Statement
Where has all the Science Gone?	Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation
Science Campaign

Where has all the Science Gone?

By: William R. Jewell, M.D. '57

Like the song, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” I lament and ponder what has become of science in this wonderful country of ours. The song that we at Blackburn should be singing is “Where has all the science gone.” Since the F.W. Olin Science Building was opened in 1957 (and actually before that time) science has been one of the strongest areas of study at Blackburn. And in this country, science has been one of our most prized commodities since the genius of Thomas Jefferson. Ponder for a moment with me why this country has become what it has. Why do we have the standard of living that we now all enjoy? Why do we have the best health care anywhere in the world? How did we manage to put a man on the moon? How did we manage to win the cold war? The answer to each of these is that we have led the world in scientific development for the past several decades. But there are several reason to believe this may not continue to be the case.

The most serious problem is that our young people are no longer choosing careers in science like they once did. For example, the United States now ranks 17th among major nations in the proportion of those ages 18 and 24 who graduate with a degree in the natural sciences or engineering. In 1975 we ranked third according to the National Science Board. Graduate schools are now filling their ranks of Ph.D. candidates and post doctoral fellows with foreign-born students in these areas. Although these students are usually very well qualified and industrious, many of them will return to their homelands and contribute to the scientific intellectual pool of their countries, but not directly to ours. But it gets worse. Less than one-third of eighth grade students successfully passed a national science exam in the year 2000, which was the last time that it was given. Fourth and twelfth grade students did worse.

So what is the problem? We simply are not doing a good enough job of reaching out to students at an early age to “turn them on” to science. And the principle reason for this is that there is a clear lack of qualified teachers to teach science at a primary and middle school level. According to a Department of Education poll, 94% of parents said that science is important for their child’s success in a global world, but their children are receiving less than half as much science teachings as their parents did when they were in school. A recent poll by the Bayer Corporation found that only six out of ten primary school teachers felt qualified to teach science or to even answer students’ questions on science issues. What can we at Blackburn do to help correct this situation? We need to do everything we can to make science more attractive for our in-coming students so that more of them will get “turned on” to science so that they in turn can go on to further studies in scientific fields or become primary or secondary level science teachers. This is exactly why I feel the new science building is so important. Together as alumni and friends of Blackburn we can do what is necessary to get the job done. The Olin Science Building has served us well for nearly 50 years. It is critical that we expand and renovate to bring our facilities up to a level capable of meeting the challenge of the future.

We currently are blessed with a very talented and dedicated science faculty, but they cannot do their job unless we have adequate facilities. I would like to see us in the next decade double the number of students each year that graduate from Blackburn who go on to post graduate education in a science area or go out to teach science at a primary or secondary level. I am sure that we can reach this goal. But ensuring continued excellence in our science programs can only be accomplished by matching the excellence of our science faculty with new and restored facilities. It is time for all of us to do everything we can to help with this project.