Cry the beloved country

This week I received some truly awful news. My inner geek pounded her fists, banged her head against a wall and screamed in futility into a fluffy pillow. South Africa is officially the lowest ranked country for science and maths education and the third lowest for overall education out of those involved in the Global Information Technology Report 2014. So that is 148 out of 148 and 146 out of 148 countries, behind Haiti. Haiti, the country devastated by one of the worse earthquakes in a developing country. Fantastic. I honestly feel like my puppy died. My wonderful scientific puppy. 

The government is the predominant party to blame here, but that's the obvious thing. Out of 148 countries we ranked 119th in the ability of our government to procure technology, 105th in the tertiary education gross enrollment rate and 116th in internet access in schools. But I think I'm more depressed by the apathy of students in this country to maths and science.

If you constantly convince yourself that something is too difficult for you, it will always be impossible. Likewise, if you are a parent and you reinforce the notion that maths is an alien language sent to suck our souls, don't be surprised when your kid fails it. For some particular freaky people, maths is the shiz-niz. Maths is the same in every language and in some ways that is really comforting to some. To be honest I can't remember if someone told me that or if it was a particularly cheesy line from Mean Girls. Probably the latter. 

I never had a philosophical relationship with maths. I, like most scientists, even like the man who invented calculus,view it as a means to an end. Maths was mostly developed to further science and unfortunately almost all of our understanding of the world is based on physics. Unfortunately for me, I don't like physics either but diligently I studied, always looking to the bigger picture. One day I knew I would be able to say to random people, "Hello I am a scientist" while wearing a HAZMAT suit in a biosafety level 3 facility. Which you have to admit, is pretty hardcore and a bit more exciting than "Hello, I'm an accountant, look at my spreadsheets".

Every day I learn something new. Every day I am forging ahead with a new exciting idea. Everyday I fit another piece into the puzzle. And its great, truly the best thing ever. It angers me when people say "Oh wow, you are so clever to be able to do what you do, I could never do that." Well to be honest, first I feel flattered then I try to get them to say I'm pretty too. But the bottom line is that anyone can do it, if from a young age they are given the bug of wonder; the urgency to ask questions and never stop asking them just because your parents want to kill you or because there is something bright and shiny on the TV. I also acknowledge the fact that in developing countries we are dealing with way more than just problems in schools. Our society is very broken; filled with needless violence and cultural clashes but that does not mean that we can accept mediocrity. We can not say that because someone got 30% for science they pass. I mean if you know 30% of chemistry, you may drink H202 instead of its non-lethal common counterpart. We can not accept apathy because, lets face it, the rest of the world is laughing at us. 

The message if you are a teenager is life does not end at 15. If you can't go to the one direction concert because you are studying for a maths test, it won't kill you. Another boy band will come along, probably with the same songs in 20 years time. And do you know what? You could ride into that concert on your very own T-rex. Science-it's real. 

If you are a parent, please stop telling your kids that science is hard. Of course it is. Anything worth doing is hard. So is anything not worth doing, like being a street sweeper or cleaning toilets. Science is fascinating. And there is so much more to find. In the great words of Ellie in Up "Adventure is out there, " don't stop your kids from finding it.