The Afrikaans language newspaper, Rapport, published an article last Sunday with the headline ‘Skandelik hoe min ons weet’ – ‘Scandalous, how little we know’ lamenting the country's lack of science savvy.
The Afrikaans language newspaper, Rapport, published an article last Sunday with the headline ‘Skandelik hoe min ons weet’ – ‘Scandalous, how little we know’ lamenting the country's lack of science savvy.
It was of course not referring to how little we know about a certain Paralympian’s penchant for firearms – we know far too much about that – but rather how little we South Africans know about the natural sciences.
It is unlikely that anyone found the article surprising because it is common knowledge that most South Africans are either terrified of science or fail to see the point of it.
The article was not the first of its kind.
We have often read about how dependent we are on the sciences yet most of us do not even know whether the sun revolves around the earth or vice-versa.
Usually these articles are about how dumb American school-children are – especially when compared to brainiac pupils in the Far East.
Fresh studies regularly tell us how badly young people in the USA are doing academically causing many of us to unconsciously believe that Americans are the dumbest people around.
That was of course until Rapport produced its survey showing that South Africans are even dumber than Americans.
About 1 000 local respondents fumbled through a list of ten true-or-false questions getting just over half right compared to the USA average of 6.5.
You can find the actual questions on the Rapport web site.
Head of the science journalism programme at Stellenbosch University, Dr George Claassen, said he was not at all surprised by the results.
He argues that mainstream newspapers pay scant attention to the sciences while 15 out of the 17 newspapers in this country carry daily astrology columns.
The Rapport’s headline is indeed true. It is a scandal how little we know. It is a disgrace that up to a third of South Africans surveyed believe that garbage served up in astrology columns is based on science.
It is clear that a disturbingly high proportion of our citizens do not have even a basic understanding of even the most basic sciences.
How on earth can we develop as a nation or compete in a world where the sciences are becoming more important while we as individuals know precious little about what is happening?
Should you care to spend some time at Scifest Africa this week you could get a sense of some the fascinating research that is taking place in our own country.
Yet most of this scientific discovery is given precious little coverage in our media.
The South African Science Journalists’ Association, Sasja, is working hard to encourage journalists to tackle science stories so that readers interested in the field will be able to keep abreast of current developments in the sciences.
Sasja is also trying to encourage universities to provide courses designed to teach journalists how to approach stories in the natural sciences.
Perhaps as most editors are drawn from the ranks of political journalists, they have not had the opportunity to appreciate the value of science news.
Maybe they simply bow to the wishes of advertisers who are reluctant to be associated with the sciences.
We don’t have a firm answer for these questions.
