Why science is failing

IT is unlikely that the current reforms in Britain's school science curriculum will have much impact on two major problems: the reluctance of the public to enter into informed debate about scientific issues of social importance; and the lack of social responsibility among scientist. Both of these have proved resistant to previous attempts to make school science more relevant and accessible to the majority of students who are not going to earn their living in science-related jobs, and there is no reason for optimism with respect to the present half-hearted and regressive changes required by the National Curriculum.
Widely reported surveys such as that by John Durant at Imperial College, and the Department of Education and Science's Assessment of Performance in Science Unit, have shown how disabled the majority of the population are when it comes to learning and discussing science. Vast numbers of young people don't know a virus from a bacterium, think that car fumes cause ozone holes,...