BY: EDWIN DE LEON
A couple of recent commentaries about our scientific aptitude ( Mangahas, PDI, Skepticism About Science, Dec. 15; de Jesus, PDI, Filipinos Becoming Scientifically Illiterate, Jan. 5 ) brings to the fore multiple correlations of our level of education, religiosity, and poverty rates. Our skepticism about science, at 48%, is second out of the 28 countries surveyed. Fully 43 % of Filipinos say that ” we put too much trust in science and not enough on religious faith.”
Since I wrote the above opener on the 22nd of January 2019 ( Phil. Daily Inquirer ) another disturbing commentary came out from columnist Cielito Habito recently ( June 11,2019 Phil Daily Inquirer ): “Why Do We Lack Engineers “. The stats are disconcerting: ” Vietnam graduates twice as many engineers every year as we do, even with a slightly lower population than ours” Among our Asean neighbours, the figures are equally disturbing. Thailand produces 87 per 100,000 people, Malaysia, 175, Singapore 200, South Korea 287. We produce less than 50! Only half of these actually pass the licensure exams to become full pledged engineers.
Engineering, like the rest of STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Math ) are highly dependent on our Scientific literacy. The Mangahas surveys shows that Filipinos are highly motivated by a religious ethos, one that is antithetical to science. The constant and pervasive stifling culture of religion is the very antithesis of forward thinking and critical and progressive trajectory of science. The books on which Theology is dependent upon was written in the first century. It is filled with claims that are intellectually regressive and harmful to our well being.
The survey is an indicator of how a substantial number of Filipinos are left out of a progressive worldview. Understanding of science, despite the march of technology, requires higher education. The better educated are generally urban and financially able to avail of it. What does it mean when half of our people believe that ”science does more harm than good?”
Besides being badly misinformed, it tells us a populace that is oblivious to all the good things that science has brought them. DNA and Climate Change may require more time for the average person to comprehend fully. Are they aware that electricity and smartphones are the products of science? And what about all the drugs available to us that prolong our lives?
We are left to speculate whether “harm” means we are becoming less and less dependent on religion for answers to life’s “mysteries.” The millennials and generation Z members are leading highly satisfying and moral lives without religion. Theirs is a generation unencumbered by ” fire and brimstone” and myth and superstition. They are not looking for answers; these are thinking and questioning generations. They are too well connected to be conned by pulpiteers. They will move us forward ( if they don’t leave) so long as the fear mongers keep their distance.
At the forefront of this survey are the same people who are not paying attention to the realities of today. Our very own mentors, Spain, Belgium ( Ireland to a lesser extent ) have all turned secular. It’s a sorry fact that Belgium and Ireland, who were once the “priest factories of the world” now have to import Filipino and African priests to appease their faithful. Atheist minister ( in Canada ), church closings, priests leaving ( or incarcerated ), parishes going bankrupt, bishop resignations are “writings on the wall.” In the end, the failure of religion to modernize and become relevant is its Achilles heel. “To have lived well is to change often” an admonition from a cardinal of a century before, has since lost its meaning.
On the practical level, we have a constituent of Filipinos who will not be employable in a STEM economy. These are the people who will make up a significant number of the poor and the marginalized. Our natural ingenuity got stuck with the jeepney! We are mired into “god will provide” mentality. Five hundred years of praying has not given us a Thomas Edison, a Steve Jobs, or even a Lee Kwan Yew (because these role models are atheists?). Half of us are still waiting for manna, and others are too busy reinventing the wheel!
It’s downright lamentable when we can be so satisfied with call centers or being the best maritime sailors in the world, using technology provided by the Indians and ships built by South Korea. Here is a country with half of our population, in a constant state of war, hardly any water “frontage” and yet a leader in shipbuilding and ocean-going drill rigs, tops in R&D, telecommunications, electronics, auto, etc.
We are all fluff, not enough action, and have a mindset of a dinosaur. High rates of poverty and religiosity which correlates highly with scientific illiteracy, are significant factors that will determine whether we can engage and appreciate the role of science in our lives.
Edwin de Leon, M.Ed. ( edwingdeleon@gmail.com)is a retired science teacher, high school principal, and a secular humanist. He is an occasional contributor to the Phil. Daily Inquirer.