The Science of Scientists

I am no scientist, neither am I a mathematician nor a philosopher. I may never be one of those, though, at one point in my eighteen years of living, I have dreamt of being one. Maybe I still do. After all, who doesn’t?
To have one’s name placed on the same category as the greatest and most respected scientists, in whatever field, is truly a great honor and, sometimes even, a great deal of luck. But what is a scientist? Before I try to answer that question, I would have to ask you for a favor. A favor I know you wouldn’t be able to turn down.
Scientists, Philosophers, Mathematicians, Statisticians, Physicians, Musicians and many more who specialize in a certain field of study. So many names, so little difference. Science is everywhere around us. Science is nature. Nature is science. And these people study what, science? Nature? Both! They’re practically the same thing. So, would I be erring if I called them all scientists? I would have to say, no. At least not until someone or something accuses me of heresy and burns me at the stake. Having told you that, would you now be kind enough to let me use the term “scientist” generally? I know you would, seeing as you have no other choice.
Moving on, early this morning I looked up the meaning of “scientist” in the dictionary and was surprised by what I read. It is said there in the dictionary that “scientist”, starting with a small letter “s”, means someone who is versed in science or devoted to scientific study or investigation. And that “Scientist”, starting with a capital, “s” is a Christian scientist. It made me wonder which letter of the word would be capitalized if the scientist happened to be a Muslim. It also made me wonder why there is the need to separate the Christian scientist from the not-so-Christian scientist. Thus, it gave me no choice but to adopt my own definition of a scientist, a true scientist.
A scientist, whether Christian or not, is a person who specializes in a particular field of study and does what he does to help other people. He has an insatiable desire to acquire knowledge. And when he learns something new, he uses this new knowledge to do good, not to take advantage of other people. He is never greedy. Although he needs and uses money, he doesn’t want it. Furthermore, a scientist is a person of character and competence. He is a person of wisdom and dignity. He values respect and commits himself to responsibility in all his undertakings.
A scientist is all of those things. Yet, a scientist is but a mere vessel for God’s greatness, mercy and love. A true scientist knows it, and is humbled by it.
Now I come to the question of how. How do I become all those things? How do I become a scientist?
I have read the article given us and I have inferred from that article that in order to become a scientist a person must want to be one. And this want or desire is or should be motivated by the school system. Sadly, the school system is failing miserably. But is the system, per se, the one to be blamed? I don’t think so. Who made the system? Moreover, who runs the system? Once again, like in my other essay, I will have to put the blame on the people. Some English people are saying that the goal of teaching science is to “give everyone sufficient knowledge and understanding to follow science and scientific debates with interest, and to engage with the issues science and technology poses.” Sufficient knowledge? Since when has there been “sufficient” knowledge when it comes to science? Follow scientific debates with interest? Interest alone would never do, there should be a rabid desire! Especially here in the Philippines, where people are too busy, trying to survive, to even think about being a scientist. It takes more than interest. It takes money, lots of it. And who has lots of money? The government. Who runs the government? Corrupt people. Who’s to blame? Everyone, including me and you. Why? Because of social injustice, which I would very much want to discuss, but it would only make this essay longer, so I won’t.
There is another group of people that greatly affects the school system. It is the group of teachers. Teachers seriously affect their students. Take me, for example, in my fourteen years of going to school, I could say that I have only had four teachers (my parents excluded), who, up to now, remain a fixture in my life. The subjects they taught were the only subjects I really studied. Like my language teacher in elementary, she never checked our notebooks, but still my notes were complete. The other teachers who did, I couldn’t have cared less. And my chemistry teacher in high school, she made the subject very easy for me, that I never listened to the lectures my college chemistry teacher gave. In fact I slept through all of them. And still I made it to the top five or ten in the departmental examinations. I am not saying this to brag, because I don’t have anything to brag about except my laziness and it is not even something to brag about. I am saying this to make a point. And that point is this, the interest of a student in a particular subject is gravely dependent on the way the teachers teaches and handles the students. Therefore, there is never a boring subject only a boring teacher.
Having made that point, I could now identify the three basic things a person must have in order for him to become a scientist: Desire, for the springboard of everything. A great teacher, for a strong foundation. And an incorruptible government, for money.
I now know how to be a scientist, and I even find the requirements quite hard to acquire. But I’m not quite finished yet. I still want to know why there is the need for scientists. Actually I already know why. I think everybody does. If scientists never existed we would be living a very different life right now, or worse yet, we wouldn’t be living at all because the first Homo sapiens were scientists too. I don’t think I need to elaborate on the importance of having scientists around, so, I wouldn’t. I would just go to my next question.
Knowing that scientists are experts on their field, is there a special authority that should be awarded to them? If I didn’t know better, would have said no, because I would have thought that everybody is a scientist. So any authority given them would not be special at all, hence it would be a common authority. Thank God I knew better.
True scientists should be given the authority, or more like, the privilege, to choose or prioritize which project should be funded by the government. Something, like a council of scientists, should be formed. And they would be the one to analyze every project proposed by the government. This council should be made up of scientists from different fields so as to avoid conflicts and biases. Some might oppose this idea because they are afraid of the risk they think is involved. They might say that those scientists would only abuse their position. They may be right, scientists might do that, but true scientists would never. Remember my definition of a true scientist? A true scientist would never even come close to thinking about taking advantage of his position.
That may have sounded easy to do, but everybody knows it not. However, under a different circumstance, it could be. If only the people were more vigilant and socially just, everything would be a piece of cake.
Again, I am no scientist and I may never be one. My name may never be known by people other than my family and friends. My name may never be placed in line with the inventors or innovators. But there’s no harm in trying. Who knows, that in my struggle to become a true scientist, I find out that I already am a true scientist. Just with a different field of expertise. And that field maybe the creation of true scientists or something simpler like the field of trying hard to become a scientist. The possibilities are endless. Only God knows.