Einstein For President

If Albert Einstein would be running for any government posts, there is a high chance that I would vote for him.

As of this writing, the Philippines’ midterm election is 3 months away, where Filipinos will be electing various national and local officials that will become the Filipinos’ voices for the next few years. We know that these politicians are capable of crafting legislation and ordinances that can dictate how our community will progress in the next few years.

But as what the physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson pointed out in an interview, most politicians, especially those in the higher offices, have degrees on law, business, and economics. And he asked the question (non-verbatim) “where are the scientists, the engineers, the doctors”?

That question actually struck me. In the Philippine settings, we rarely see scientists running for the people. But why? What make scientists a vital part of our government?

As what I observed, highly developed countries made science and technology as the driving force of their economy. Countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, United Kingdom, China, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and other progressive countries have a more intensive science program that allowed their countries to become economic leaders.

In some of my classes, I sometimes mentioned to my students that if I run for the presidency, my number one platform is to strengthen the science and technology program of the country. Let me be clear that I do not have intentions of running for public office, nor endorsing anybody. But what I was trying to convey to my students is that science and technology is the backbone of an economy, since ST can have various applications including: agriculture, health, engineering, communications, transportation, military, biodiversity conservation, education, sports, to name a few. We have to remember that research and development on this field can yield various products that we can sell to the world.

All of those can only be achieved when we value the brilliance of the Filipino mind. If you are into science and technology and is now reading this article, for sure that you know of someone in the sciences who are already working in the foreign land, making breakthroughs in foreign laboratories, serving foreign scientists. I for one have known of people who are brilliant scientists, yet hardly able to talk in binisaya, Ilonggo, tagalog, waray (and other dialects) to their students and to their constituents. Of course we cannot blame them. It is just that our government failed to see that scientists are national assets, and that foreign labs offer a bigger room for their scientific and personal growth. The government failed to support our science and technology program that it came to a point that only a handful member of the young Filipino generation chose to venture into scientific careers.

We cannot deny that our science program is rusty and dusty. We were left behind by countries that are smaller and younger than us. But it is not yet too late to realize all of these. I believe that our very own Department of Science and Technology do have various programs to ensure that the science culture of our country is alive and progressing. For example, DOST’s Balik Scientist Program aims to invite Filipino scientists all over the world to mentor and inspire young Filipinos to become scientists. Research centers and research institutions are sprouting all over the country. More research funds (including scholarships) coming from the government and private sectors are already available. Exchange programs are also practiced and science budget is up. Science curriculum and science awareness has been intensified. It seems that science in the Philippines is starting to wake up from a long and deep slumber.

However, this is not where we should stop. Instead, all of those mentioned programs must only serve as our partial step in advancing our scientific capacities. We can start by putting more science people in various government positions: congress, senate, even in the presidency. With science minds in the government, legislation can also incorporate scientific principles. With scientist-politicians, we can be confident that programs in science and technology will certainly move forward. And as a result, Filipinos and the rest of humanity will enjoy a healthier, happier, and more peaceful and progressive lives.

This is Edward Opena’s Klassrum.

#NeverStopLearning