Why aren’t more people interested now in physics & astronomy

[valentinacozenkova]

Especially today’s younger generation...

 

[ISamson]

Especially today’s younger generation...

What do you mean? What gives you the thought that today's younger generation is less interested in physics and astrophysics. Any sources?
I share you opinion, though.

 

[DiracPool]

What do you mean? What gives you the thought that today's younger generation is less interested in physics and astrophysics.
I share you opinion, though.

That's kind of an oxymoron statement, don't you think?

My opinion is that people that study math and physics have no idea how to teach it, that's the problem. Being in a graduate program myself I see this even more clearly. I'm doing research, I don't want to teach any classes, yet I'm required to. Teaching is a certain skill, research is another. But the way that the academic system is set up in the USA is kind of a naive framework that we'll make the grad students and the post-docs alike teach the classes so they can earn their keep. Makes sense on paper, maybe, but the end result is that you have incompetent and inept people trying to school the yungin's and it doesn't work.

THAT is the big problem. People who want to teach a subject and who are good at teaching should teach the subject. Give the grad students and postdocs a job cleaning the toilets if they need to earn their stipend.

 

[valentinacozenkova]

What do you mean? What gives you the thought that today's younger generation is less interested in physics and astrophysics.
I share you opinion, though.

I don’t mean everyone isn’t interest in physics and astronomy, i phrased that wrong. My mother has been a physics teacher at multiple high schools for the past 20 years and she told me how there isn’t enough student interest in physics or astronomy. The number of students choosing to pursue physics is weak compared to say biology and chemistry.

It may sound idiotic and I may be wrongly but I feel like a lot of people could be pursuing these amazing subjects but a lot of people see space and think “cool” then move on with there daily lives...

 

[ISamson]

This is because students might prefer to study highly applicable things, like you said, biology, sport... and not something quite theoretical like physics and astrophysics.

 

[valentinacozenkova]

This is because students might prefer to study highly applicable things, like you said, biology, sport... and not something quite theoretical like physics and astrophysics.

I understand that other sciences and literature, sport and so on is what majority of students will pursue but it’s a little disappointing that there isn’t a lot MORE interest by all kinds of people not just your stereotypical geniuses.

My cousin who is a physicist is a beautiful tall women who use to model in her younger years, gets the same reaction 99% of time when she tells them she’s a physicist...”you don’t look like a scientist”

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

If someone is interested in a topic I wish them all the best. Me, I know I'll never get a handle on quantum physics or dark energy. Better minds than mine struggle with it.

 

[symbolipoint]

I understand that other sciences and literature, sport and so on is what majority of students will pursue but it’s a little disappointing that there isn’t a lot MORE interest by all kinds of people not just your stereotypical geniuses.

My cousin who is a physicist is a beautiful tall women who use to model in her younger years, gets the same reaction 99% of time when she tells them she’s a physicist...”you don’t look like a scientist”

People who say that, really do not know what a scientist looks like.

 

[Apple_Mango]

You might as well asked why people don't go into math.

 

[russ_watters]

Dunno; why aren't there more people interested in Backgammon?

 

[newjerseyrunner]

My guess would be money. You can make a lot of money in chemistry or mechanical engineering, astrophysics... not so much.

We're also entering a kind of boring time in space exploration. In the 70s, we were busy exploring the solar system, sending probes to far off worlds that we'd never seen before up close. Now... we've seen them all. Even tiny Pluto has been visited so there isn't much left to explore (lots of science left to do, but not exploring.) Extrasolar planets are way too far away and there doesn't appear to be any way to speed up the process of checking those out.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

We had a nice boost in interest from big discoveries like the higgs and gravitational waves. Also the solar eclipse was a big event. Small boosts were also noticed from NdT's Cosmos. We need more of those types of big budget programs to capture the public's interest.

 

[ZapperZ]

We had a nice boost in interest from big discoveries like the higgs and gravitational waves. Also the solar eclipse was a big event. Small boosts were also noticed from NdT's Cosmos. We need more of those types of big budget programs to capture the public's interest.

But greg, that's a catch-22 scenario.

Big budget programs do NOT get funded because the public and politicians do not see their importance. But yet, you think that they are the ones that will increase interest in the public.

So which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I don’t mean everyone isn’t interest in physics and astronomy, i phrased that wrong. My mother has been a physics teacher at multiple high schools for the past 20 years and she told me how there isn’t enough student interest in physics or astronomy. The number of students choosing to pursue physics is weak compared to say biology and chemistry.

It may sound idiotic and I may be wrongly but I feel like a lot of people could be pursuing these amazing subjects but a lot of people see space and think “cool” then move on with there daily lives...

It is silly to think that kids at THAT age will study something because they are aware of the significance and importance of a particular subject.

Physics in high schools have always carried the "stigma", accurately or not, of being a "difficult" subject. And to some degree, it is correct, because it requires not only an analytical ability, but also (i) a solid mathematics background and (ii) an inspiring teacher. Any ONE of those goes missing, and everything goes down the tubes. Biology and Chemistry are often considered as being the "easier" science subject to tackle. So if your intention is get good grades and to go to college, which one would you tend to avoid?

This isn't just a scenario at the high-school level. I've taught physics classes for Bio/Pre-Med majors, and almost 100% of the students have honestly told me that they would never take a physics class had it not been a requirement for the medical schools that they're applying to. Do think think these students were thinking about the degree of "amazingness" when they consider what courses to take?

Zz.

 

[symbolipoint]

One of the possible ways student might make academic or career decisions could come from which kinds of sciences are neater to study: The neatness that is found in beginning physical sciences with the mathematics that makes these neater, or the less neat things they need to decide on upon looking at difficult to organize specimens of the biological type, like trying to look at tissues and cells and figure out what they see.

 

[StatGuy2000]

To the OP:

The problem with your assertion (based on your title) is that you are assuming that people are less interested in physics and astronomy in comparison to the past, but you haven't presented any real evidence that this is in fact the case. Even your anecdotal statement of your mother as a high school physics teacher is only that, one anecdote, and from the way you've phrased things, it seems to me that you're stating that number of students choosing physics is weak, but that may well have been the case for quite some time.

The number of students choosing to study either mathematics or the physical sciences in college/university have always been a minority, and there have always been a larger number of students studying biology, at least partly because a biology degree is often seen as an entry point for medical, nursing, dental, or veterinary schools. Of course this statement is just speculation on my part, but is consistent from my own observations.

 

[symbolipoint]

I like the way StatGuy2000 says this:

Of course this statement is just speculation on my part, but is consistent from my own observations.

 

[Jacinta]

Because I'm kinda dumb. And it is the bane of my existence.