Photo/Illutration Students take the national academic achievement test that covers math and Japanese at an elementary school in Tokyo on April 18. (Pool)

More than half of parents in Japan want their children to major in science at their college or university, while only about 10 percent prefer the humanities, an Asahi Shimbun survey found.

Engineering is the clear favorite, but survey responses from 3,250 parents identified a gender divide. Some are anxious about limited prospects for female scientists and a lack of visibly successful females in the sector.

“Role models for women with a science background are disproportionately doctors,” one person said.

Carried out in May, the survey investigated attitudes toward science-related careers and how the sciences are taught in Japan.

It covered parents who subscribe to Asahi Shimbun publications: The Asahi Shimbun EduA, which covers trends in education for parents with school-age children, and The Asahi Shimbun newspapers for elementary through high school students.

It found that 53.7 percent of respondents want their first child to major in science. Only 11 percent said they expect their first child to study humanities. One-third gave other answers, including that they cannot say.

Within the sciences, there was a clear preference for certain disciplines.

In all, 34.9 percent of people named engineering as their preference. This was followed by mathematics, physics and chemistry at a combined 32.4 percent; medicine, dentistry and pharmaceutical science at 26.1 percent; and agriculture or fisheries at 15.6 percent.

The parents were asked why they think their children should pursue scientific studies. Respondents could select multiple answers for this.

In all, 62.1 percent believe that their children seem to have an ability or interest in it. The next most common answer was that they feel that a scientific background will likely give their children “an advantage” in searching for a job, cited by 20.7 percent.

The figure for those who believe that a knowledge of science “may contribute to society” was 19.3 percent.

The survey found slightly higher support for the sciences from parents who themselves majored in science. About 60 percent of these want their children to follow suit, whereas just over half of humanities graduates--or 52 percent--want their children to study science.

Meanwhile, the survey revealed a gender divide.

If the first child is male, 65 percent of science majors want their son to pursue science. The figure drops to 52 percent for daughters.

Some parents took the survey as an opportunity to express concerns about limited career options for females.

“Female students researching sciences may have fewer job options,” one respondent wrote.

Another said there is a lack of role models for women in science, noting that the most visible females are doctors.

“There must be a certain number of female scientists who are active at the forefront of their work,” the person wrote. “But they are invisible to high school girls and, as a result, cannot hold them up as their ideals.”

The parents were asked about obstacles to pursuing a science education.

In all, 52.1 percent cited higher tuition fees for science majors than for humanities majors at private institutions. Just over a quarter, or 27.4 percent, replied that their children are “not good at logical thinking.” A similar number, or 24.3 percent, said their children already show low aptitude for math and science or that they simply dislike it.

Asked about what society needs to do to develop a new generation of scientists, 64.4 percent picked “a review of the content of and how mathematics and science are taught” in schools.

A slightly lower number, or 60.6 percent, said university-level scientists should be encouraged to go into classrooms to talk to students. And 46 percent said a research project of their choice might be a way to get students more engaged with science.

The survey’s findings were presented in July at a symposium in Tokyo jointly organized by the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Tokyo University of Science.

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