Sir, – I wish to strongly support the sentiments expressed by David McConnell (January 17th). His fear that we are a nation of scientific illiterates is not far from the truth. But whose fault is this? It is certainly the fault of the education system where we teach science by rote rather than by encouraging intellectual curiosity, but it also the fault of people like myself in the teaching profession who fail to communicate our science to the general public. The result of this is a frightening rise in pseudoscience among the general population.
As a nation we pop endless quantities of vitamin pills without ever thinking if we need them in the first place; which we don’t. When was the last time we saw people with vitamin deficiencies in Ireland? Back in the Famine time perhaps? And yet the practice continues. We also spend vast amounts of our hard-earned cash on unproven heath supplements that are ironically on prominent display in many of our pharmacies.
Turning to homeopathy rather than proven medical remedies is also on the rise. So if we want to scientifically educate our population and bring science onto the public agenda we need to come out of our class rooms, lecture theatres and laboratories and communicate the excitement of science to the people of Ireland. – Yours, etc,