The Importance of Science Education

Science and technology are powerful forces that shape human life on earth. They have enormous potential to make our lives better and richer, to keep our world safe and livable, and to make our society productive and progressive. Science education needs to help fulfill the potential of science and technology by ensuring that they are used effectively, creatively, and wisely.
Although recent public debate has focused largely on the economic reasons for why science education is important, many scientists and researchers feel that other reasons are even more compelling.

The first reason is personal fulfillment. The study of science enriches people's lives. Science lights the dark and frightening corners of the world. It opens the human mind to new aesthetic and intellectual pleasures and to a new appreciation of the beauty and precision that surrounds them. Science education empowers people to take greater control of their lives and to face problems with courage and understanding. It liberates them to imagine new questions and to set about finding new answers.
The second reason is the welfare of society. All citizens need to be scientifically literate to function effectively in an increasingly technical age and to help create and sustain a decent, just, and vigorous society. A scientifically literate person is one who understands the key concepts and principles of science and uses scientific knowledge and ways of thinking in everyday life.
Citizens today face a range of hard choices—from the personal, such as how to avoid contracting AIDS, to the global, such as what to do about acid rain. People who understand science are better prepared to sort fact from myth, make sensible decisions, and urge their leaders toward enlightened public policy choices.
The third reason for science education being so important is economic. The nation will continue to need well-educated scientists, engineers, and technicians to push the envelope of knowledge and rekindle the spirit of invention and discovery that built our nation. We will also need people who are scientifically literate in a range of fields, including those that are not ostensibly scientific or technical. New technological and workplace demands are increasing the need for workers who have flexible skills, a basic grasp of science and technology, and the ability to solve problems and to think critically.