[Opinion] A Country without Technology Experts

Once I used to think about why our country became a poor developing country, beginning with why I had to born in such a country and then moving to why my nation, the Republic of Korea, became such a weak nation. There are many reasons why but the most important one is the lack of technology.

Then I ask myself why we lacked technology expertise and the reason is because we did not have outstanding technology experts. When I think further, it is also because we disdained such people. During the Choson dynasty, people used to go to their deaths saying, ``I will not pass down technological skills.`` How can this be conducive to technological advancement? Without technology, however, we couldn`t make anything, and we suffered since our weaponry fell behind fast. As a result, we lost our country and underwent the pain of seeing our country separate.

There was a math aptitude test for the 2002 college admissions. When we look at the students who took the test, it becomes clear that we are turning the clocks back to the Choson dynasty.

Of the 738,000 total student test takers, 199,000 students, 27 percent, are going into the natural sciences and 416,000 students, 56 percent, are going into the humanities. The other 123,000 students, 16 percent, are going into vocational majors. There are students who take the humanities exam and then transfer to the natural sciences, but they are insignificantly small in number.

In the 1970s when the state policy was driven by the slogan for national upbuilding and the need for technological skill, there were larger number of students in the natural sciences. As a result, many excellent people went in to the technological field. It was because of these people, now in their 40s and 50s, that we have produced memory chips, cars, and ships for export.

The situation, however, began to change in the 1990s. People in science and technology were not treated as well and the view that the science fields are only trouble became widespread. The number of students going into science decreased and the percentage of admissions in the humanities and sciences split in half with 45 percent in each, while 8.8 percent went into vocational majors.

Afterwards, the annual percentage of students entering the natural sciences were 43, 42, 43, 42, 39, 34, 29 percent, decreasing by 2 percent every year. In contrast, the humanities increased by 1.2 percent while vocational fields rose by 0.9 percent. Recently, it has reached the point where natural sciences only has one fourth of the student population. This trend will continue for the time. The number will be 25 percent next year for the sciences. After that, 23, 21, 19, and 17 percent.

Some say that we live in an age dominated by the power of technology. Countries that do not have technological skills have little that they can do. They cannot freely manage and develop the economy, national defense, or culture. Products come from the hands of the technically skilled and boost the value of culture and services. In other words, we need technically skilled people and only then can we raise the value of the other goods.

When we look at the disposition of students today, we can see the shape of human resources in the next 10 – 20 years. Only a quarter of the population will be working to create products and all others will work in the arts and humanities which only puts flesh on top of production. What will happen, then, to the country? Will it be able to compete with nations where 50 percent of the population is in manufacturing?

Moreover, when we examine the human resources that the society demands, two-thirds are in sciences. Although university graduates are currently facing hardships in the job market, companies are having a hard time finding people they want. This is the consequence of inadequate education in the fields that the society needs. If three-fourths of the student population goes into the arts and humanities, how will their jobs become available?

We need to find a solution before it is too late. If we go on this way, the future looks way too dim. Although some well-intentioned people are starting a `science book start campaign` and encouraging children to pursue science by giving them science books, this is not far from enough.

It is said that coursework in the natural sciences is hard and the grades harder to make while it is easy to make good grades in the humanities and vocational majors. This means that something is off. We have to examine the causes for the decline in students entering the sciences and find the incentives that will address that cause. Government has a role to play but it is important to fix what is not working in order to make it work better.

Lee Kwang-Hyung (KAIST Future Production Endowed Chair Professor, Guest Editorial Writer)