Too many parents think science isn’t for their children because it’s only an option for the brightest pupils, according to a new survey. Which leads posters in the TES online forums to ask: “Do you have to be clever to be a scientist?” Spool resents the fact that the BBC feels it necessary to wheel out “trendy” physicist Brian Cox to trumpet that he only got a D in maths in response to the story. “I thought we had reached the very bottom of the dumbing down and pop-star-ization of everything in this country; that there was simply no space to go lower, but apparently I was wrong. Now you don’t have to be clever to be a scientist,” moans Spool. MarkS, meanwhile, points out that not everyone needs to be an atom-splitter to be successful in science. “There is a shortage of lab technicians - this job needs some training and knowledge or understanding of science, but not a degree necessarily,” he says.
Those who are too busy turning themselves into geniuses probably also spend too much time away from their partners. Dogcat worries that she only sees her other half for a couple of hours, a couple of nights a week. The rest of the time he is playing rugby, going to the gym or in “religious training”. Cosmos advises: “There comes a time when you will hear yourself saying “aren’t you going out to play rugby or golf whatever? Mr C used to be out all the time and it did cause resentment, especially when the children were small, but now he hardly goes out and it drives me dotty!” Lilyofthefield agrees. “I don’t see much of my husband. Fleeting glimpses in the morning Monday to Friday... That is why we are still together after 31 years.”
One comfort that Dogcat won’t be able to reach for any more is long-running murder mystery series Midsomer Murders, at least not with star John Nettles. Tigger 1962 decreed his final outing “a great episode”, with “plenty of bodies”. Another poster faced a dilemma about whether to watch Detective Barnaby or her other favourite show, Mary Portas: Secret Shopper. Perhaps, Jude Fawley muses, there could be a cocktail of the two, where “Mary visits Midsomer. She bullies some shop assistant and is found in the changing room with a coathanger in the back. It happens in a shop called Berger Rack.” Never mind science, these posters should be doing stand-up.
Join the debates
tes.co.ukcleverscientistsmidsomertimetogether
This week’s poll
Are you Facebook friends with any of your students?
NO 92%
YES 8%
To vote in next week’s poll visit www.tes.co.ukpoll.