The STS mindset
How science and tech shape society
Once in our four- to five-year undergraduate study, all University of the Philippines (UP) students are required to take the science, technology, and society (STS) course as part of their liberal education enshrined in the University’s General Education (GE) Program.
STS, as it was designed in 1987, is a critical exploration of the social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental factors interacting with science and technology (S&T). Beyond the usual science course, STS challenges traditional roles of specialization and offers a platform where students from different disciplines interact and see that their disciplines connect with each other.
This year marks 30 years of STS teaching at UP. The course embodies UP’s tradition of liberal education aimed at broadening the students’ cultural and intellectual horizons. Regardless of the students’ and instructors’ areas of specialization, a big class of about 120 students and different lecturers allows the students to engage in discourses on pressing societal issues involving S&T.
Boldly, the course’s aim is to inculcate in its students not just critical and creative thinking on problems and issues concerning S&T, but more importantly, big-picture thinking of S&T with a commitment to nationalism and social justice.
WAVES OF STS ISSUES
The year 2018 has seen a barrage of various STS issues and controversies in Philippine national news. There was the questioned Department of Health dengue immunization program. As of April 2018, 62 recorded child deaths have been popularly attributed to the administration of the Dengvaxia vaccine, and government’s inquiry on this issue continues unresolved.
There is also the Philippines’ waste management problem borne of its burgeoning tourism industry. The sixmonth closure of Boracay, one of the country’s major tourist destinations, is its prime example. The government’s move to temporarily close Boracay began nearly a month ago as part of the efforts to rehabilitate the island’s natural environment.
These are just some of the issues that are STS problems in the Philippines. And they can and should be addressed by a synergy of disciplines framed within STS studies. Such is the need to further implement STS in the curriculum of other colleges and universities in the country. According to Dr. Fidel Nemenzo, former Science and Society Program head and current vice chancellor for Research and Development of the UP Diliman, students must be engaged not only in the S&T aspect of these problems, but also on the ethical and political issues concerning STS.
STS AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
STS has proven its relevance in the University as part of its GE program. One of its discussed themes is national development. Dr. Nemenzo believes that the course’s goal is to inspire every member of society with the STS mindset. “It’s a discipline that promotes a kind of mindset that looks at the context of things. We want to promote a broad scientific outlook, not necessarily just for science, but for everyday living,” Nemenzo said in an interview.
“Science does not concern science majors alone, it is also the concern of every individual because we live in a world created by science and at the same time, science is shaped by social factors that we are part of,” he added.
More importantly, for us to identify which fundamental problems to address, we must objectively study the national situation. According to Dr. Giovanni Tapang, professor of Physics at the National Institute of Physics and chairperson of the people’s organization AGHAM - Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, the Philippines 1) lacks basic industries, 2) has no program for rural industrialization and agricultural modernization, and 3) has no genuine infrastructure in energy, transportation, communication, information technology, and other basic services. He pointed out that a program for national industrialization is necessary for genuine development.
This national industrialization program, as Dr. Tapang presents in his STS lecture, must comprise “public sector control and operation of vital industries, limiting of foreign corporations and entities in manufacturing enterprises, financing national industries, and agrarian reform development.”
In relation, this also concerns the issue of the Philippines’ lack of scientists. During the earlier months of 2017, a hearing on Senate Bill No. 175, or Balik Scientist Bill, found that the Philippines only has 189 scientists per million. With a population of more than 110 million Filipinos, the country still needs more than 19,000 scientists to be a significant force in research and development.
STS FOR A FILIPINO SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
NAST president, Dr. William
Padolina, argued in a round table discussion organized by the program that has administered STS teaching in the UP for the last 30 years, the Science and Society Program (SSP), that the current problems of the country are related to the shortage of human power. “There is a civil shortage of talent,” Dr. Padolina claimed.
While this shortage, argued by Narod Eco of the AGHAM Diliman, might be more a consequence of poor government support for basic research and development of our Sciences—and more importantly science workers!—it “harks back to the lack of a scientific mass culture,” said archaeologist Vito Hernandez, AGHAM Diliman member and Senior Lecturer at the SSP.
Science often feared as a complex and complicated body of knowledge or activity, often with practitioners who fare poorly at communicating what they do or know, and sadly a lack of attempt by the government, the governed, and community of scientists to rectify these issues leads to a nation largely indifferent to S&T. These issues reflect on the dismal state of science-based decisions made by government, the underappreciation of the academe as incubator of ideas and innovation, and, perhaps most fundamental of all, the almost singular value of universities and colleges as mere diploma mills.
For students at the University, this is what STS hopes for: Through STS it is hoped that they more critically understand the relations of science and society. Through STS it is hoped that they are encouraged to come to a critical realization that empowering society through a more liberal and holistic employment of their learned S&Ts can contribute primarily to developing a truly Filipino culture of Science, and consequently a better developed nation. We are, after all, the future science workers, communicators, advisors, and government and development workers.
As Dr Nemenzo challenges, “As responsible citizens, we should have a voice, we should take part in certain decisions about the use of science, because the use of science will impact all of us. It shouldn’t be just the decision of politicians, of scientists. Everyone should take part in these decisions, and you could only take part in this decision-making if you understand the issues.” The University’s students take on these challenges, with hope better-trained and better-prepared through STS.
‘Science does not concern science majors alone, it is also the concern of every individual because we live in a world created by science and at the same time, science is shaped by social factors that we are part of.’