People don't like sciences because they don't understand it?

If there are no clear right and wrong answers then how can a view be completely wrong? I think in your hurry to be an elitist git you overlooked that little problem.

Yeah I include maths, but it is by far the most popular compared to the other sciences. I hear economics can be very mathsy at certain universities and more essay-like in others, so not too sure on it.

Where the view has no justification. The problem is that not everything is a matter of opinion: you can advance views without proper justification and get marks for it in a way that you can't in science. If your view isn't supported by the evidence its wrong, but A-level english/history/law are taught to give you credit anyway, whereas in science exams you don't get marks unless you set out your reasoning in full and that reasoning is right. On the other hand doing well in science GCSE and A-levels is mainly an exercise in realising what the examiner wants and ticking the boxses on his mark schemes. Other countries teach arts subjects on a more factual basis (i.e. you don't get credit for talking rubbish) and science on a more artsy basis (i.e. more emphasis on the quality of reasoning than on ticking boxes on the mark scheme). I think this makes sense and would probably narrow the gap between people choosing arts subjects and people doing science subjects. I did three arts subjects and one science subject at A-level and an arts subject at uni BTW, I'm not trying to be elitist.

I kind of agree with this. I am blessed that I could have chose to do humanties/arts or sciences. I have a medical condition which gives me 'brain fog'. When I have brain fog, I can't do simple arithmetic but I can still construct something of an essay even if the meaning of my words is rather cryptic. Doing maths when I'm like that, literally hurts my head where as only when I'm *really* bad can I not read a book and remember the content, but on that note Biology is kind of easier for me in the respect that it's a lot of retaining information rather than in Physics which is mainly understanding concepts. On the other hand, when I'm feeling well I find learning a few theories a lot simpler than retaining masses of information :P

Where the view has no justification. The problem is that not everything is a matter of opinion: you can advance views without proper justification and get marks for it in a way that you can't in science. If your view isn't supported by the evidence its wrong, but A-level english/history/law are taught to give you credit anyway, whereas in science exams you don't get marks unless you set out your reasoning in full and that reasoning is right. On the other hand doing well in science GCSE and A-levels is mainly an exercise in realising what the examiner wants and ticking the boxses on his mark schemes. Other countries teach arts subjects on a more factual basis (i.e. you don't get credit for talking rubbish) and science on a more artsy basis (i.e. more emphasis on the quality of reasoning than on ticking boxes on the mark scheme). I think this makes sense and would probably narrow the gap between people choosing arts subjects and people doing science subjects. I did three arts subjects and one science subject at A-level and an arts subject at uni BTW, I'm not trying to be elitist.

That's not even true, though. You don't get a mark in, say, English A-Level for saying "This scene is scary." You have to use quotations and demonstrate how it's scary. Yes it's down to interpretation somewhat, but you don't just write anything and get a mark. Not to mention that there are "art" subjects which aren't as subjective - foreign languages, for example.

Either way, I highly doubt the reason people take arts subjects is because you "can't be wrong."

In A-levels and in university, arts and humanities are more popular than sciences/engineering. Theres no doubt that courses like physics, chemistry and engineering are undersubsribed at university compared to economics, history and english. What do you guys think is the reason for this?

Is it down to a lack of understanding with sciences? or are they just not as interesting?


Personally, I think people don't understand sciences, or at least not well enough which has led to the trend in the popularity of subjects/courses. Go into a library, almost anyone can pick up a book on economics or history and begin understanding what is being written. The same can't be said with the equivalent in physics or biology for example. I'm studying A2 physics, maths and chemistry, and even I struggle abit when reading introductory books on quantum mechanics and the universe - I certainly notice it required more effort of me than when I was reading an economics book on globalisation. I try and put myself in the mindset of the typical student and I can imagine I'd be like ''I can't be bothered with this''. You naturally become disinterested in something when you don't have a clue about it. I think if everyone understood both sciences and the arts and humanities equally, we'd see a near 50-50 split between students in both those areas. It also quite telling that whenever I hear about bad teachers, they tend to be from science departments.

This raises another question, when it comes to deciding which A-level subjects to take or which course to do, is it a 'good' enough reason to turn away from certain subjects simply because you don't understand it well enough?
I remember when I was picking my A-levels just over a year ago, I didn't like maths back then, but in hindsight I'm really glad that I took it, because A-level maths has been a real eye opener, now I actually understand the logic (some of it at least) rather than just mindlessly working away like a drone.

Dude. Sciences are some of the most popular subjects, and the number of people taking them has been steadily increasing over the past few years. The subjects that are unpopular because people don't understand them and think they're too much work are modern foreign languages, which is ridiculous because they're the best subjects () and they are so useful.

So true...the amount of times I've heard, "I'm English, why would I speak French....it's too much bother" is ridiculous...

If there are no clear right and wrong answers then how can a view be completely wrong? I think in your hurry to be an elitist git you overlooked that little problem.

In A-levels and in university, arts and humanities are more popular than sciences/engineering. Theres no doubt that courses like physics, chemistry and engineering are undersubsribed at university compared to economics, history and english. What do you guys think is the reason for this?

Is it down to a lack of understanding with sciences? or are they just not as interesting?


Personally, I think people don't understand sciences, or at least not well enough which has led to the trend in the popularity of subjects/courses. Go into a library, almost anyone can pick up a book on economics or history and begin understanding what is being written. The same can't be said with the equivalent in physics or biology for example. I'm studying A2 physics, maths and chemistry, and even I struggle abit when reading introductory books on quantum mechanics and the universe - I certainly notice it required more effort of me than when I was reading an economics book on globalisation. I try and put myself in the mindset of the typical student and I can imagine I'd be like ''I can't be bothered with this''. You naturally become disinterested in something when you don't have a clue about it. I think if everyone understood both sciences and the arts and humanities equally, we'd see a near 50-50 split between students in both those areas. It also quite telling that whenever I hear about bad teachers, they tend to be from science departments.

This raises another question, when it comes to deciding which A-level subjects to take or which course to do, is it a 'good' enough reason to turn away from certain subjects simply because you don't understand it well enough?
I remember when I was picking my A-levels just over a year ago, I didn't like maths back then, but in hindsight I'm really glad that I took it, because A-level maths has been a real eye opener, now I actually understand the logic (some of it at least) rather than just mindlessly working away like a drone.

If there are no clear right and wrong answers then how can a view be completely wrong? I think in your hurry to be an elitist git you overlooked that little problem.

not trying to show off or anything, but i got 400/400 in additional science gcse, so clearly I must have understood it relatively well. But I still couldn't stand the subject, so boring and uninteresting. ok they mean the same, but anyway, you get the point!

Dude. Sciences are some of the most popular subjects, and the number of people taking them has been steadily increasing over the past few years. The subjects that are unpopular because people don't understand them and think they're too much work are modern foreign languages, which is ridiculous because they're the best subjects () and they are so useful.

Has to be said, Science vastly undersells itself in the classroom. A subject that claims to answer all possible questions in the universe, with no limit asides from your own imagination... that spends most of its time fiddling with Bunsen burners and measuring acids. There's a huge amount of scope to teach interesting science (there's a lot of it after all), yet the curriculum has hardly changed in decades and the same dull topics are trodden upon again and again.

Same applies to Mathematics, sadly. Only a very small amount of what's taught in a Maths classroom actually qualifies as proper Maths. Most of it is just mindless bean counting, formula memorising (which is about on par with learning dates by heart in History lessons in mental exertion levels) and other such rubbish.

Maths is not about that. Maths is about solving puzzles, about thinking about things logically, and finding solutions in non-obvious ways. You could teach most of a GCSE in Maths without learning the number line at all (not that I'm suggesting you should!), and it'd have the potential to be far more interesting compared to the dry, unchallenging crap that most Maths teachers are forced to press upon their students.