當科學家失去吸引力 誰偷走了中國孩子的科學夢?

Chinese children no longer dream of becoming a scientist amid changing social values, according to surveys.

多項調查顯示，隨着社會價值觀的變遷，我國兒童不再夢想成爲科學家。

Sun Yunxiao, chief researcher at China Youth and Children Research Center, said science fell from favor due to changing social values, which regard science as a less rewarding choice and not as prestigious as economics.

中國青少年研究中心首席研究員孫雲曉表示，科學失去吸引力的原因在於社會價值觀的變遷，在如今的社會價值觀中，科學是回報率較低的選擇，也不如經濟學有聲望。

A study by the center in 2013 showed that 32.3% of Chinese high school students want to work in science-related fields, 17 and 12 percentage points lower than in the US and South Korea, respectively.

該中心2013年的一項調查發現，32.3%的中國高中生想從事科學相關行業，分別比美國和韓國低17和12個百分點。

The study also showed that the older children became, the less they wanted to pursue a science career, dropping from 52.5% for elementary students to 47.5% for middle school students.

該調查還發現孩子越長大越不想追求科學事業，想從事科學行業的小學生有52.5%，這一比例在初中生中降至47.5%。

A researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that becoming a scientist was the third-to-last choice among 1,000 students surveyed, ahead of only workers and farmers.

中科院一位研究員對1000名學生的調查發現，當科學家是倒數第3的選擇，只比工人和農民排名靠前。

The latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that 16.8% of Chinese students expect to pursue careers in science, well below the 38% figure in the US and the average for OECD countries of 24.5%.

經濟合作與發展組織(OECD)國際學生評估項目的最新結果顯示，16.8%的中國學生期望從事科學行業，遠低於美國的38%和OECD國家24.5%的均值。