Ladd is a Grade 12 student at Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario, and her apathy is not uncommon.

According to a panel of experts speaking in a series facilitated by the Ontario Centres of Excellence, students are taking less of an interest in science-based curriculum because of negative stigmas, and this poses a problem at the university level.

Ladd says she finds the sciences boring because she is more of a hands-on person, but counsellor Laraine Byrnes says students are just taking the path of least resistance.

?They take the compulsory that they have to, but as soon as there’s an opportunity not to do something difficult, they want to do something That’s relatively easy,? said Byrnes, head of student services at Bishop Ryan.

She says students are more likely to take another phys-ed course or sit in on a drama class instead of taking something harder, like chemistry or biology.

?If you look at the universities? acceptance for science at [Hamilton’s McMaster University], It’s 90s. The kids realize right away that they’re not going, and they turn around and choose social sciences,? said Byrnes.

She says when courses involve constant homework, studying, and memorization, students will opt for something else.

Reni Barlow, executive director of the Youth Science Foundation Canada, says It’s not the students? fault.

?High school science is really boring. For the most part, kids don’t have a particularly good experience,? said Barlow. ?It comes across as something to be memorized, that science is finished, and the answers are in the back of the textbook.?

One project the YSFC focuses on now is called Smarter Science. Barlow says resources will be available both on the web and in hard copy to support the development of inquiry- and project-based science.

Barlow says science is actually a highly creative endeavour and is more than just memorizing and reading things out of a textbook.

?Ten to 15 years ago, there was a big swing in the curriculum that shifted the emphasis toward content and away from the inquiry skills, problem solving skills, and the connection to science in society,? said Barlow.

He says that new changes have already been made this year in the elementary science curriculum that bring the focus more toward what makes science fascinating. Changes to the high school curriculum arrive next September.

?The new curriculum will help, but what’s even more required is a set of master resources and frameworks to help teachers interpret that curriculum and offer it up as classroom experiences that are actually engaging,? said Barlow.

Prerequisites for post-secondary are strict, and if students drop science in high school early on, they often have to change their plans for university.

Despite concerns at the high-school level, the Faculty of Science at McMaster is seeing more applications than last year.

The faculty recently split the program up into separate streams in an effort to make it easier for students to focus on exactly what they came to learn. This has resulted in slightly easier admission requirements, as not all of the sciences and maths in high school are required for each stream.

Applications in environmental and earth sciences have increased by almost 30 per cent this year, while the math and stats program has seen a jump of just under 20 per cent. The only science program with fewer applications is life sciences, which dropped 0.3 per cent, or about 20 students.

Post-secondary applications are up this year for all programs.

Graduating student Chelsea Ladd now plans to go to university for law or insurance, but her original plan to get into health has fallen by the wayside because of the science requirements.

?I wasn’t really encouraged to take math and science,? said Ladd. ?Still, I almost wish that I talked to a guidance counsellor earlier, because I would have liked to get into health and nutrition.?

The number has not been higher since the double cohort in 2003, and the applicant increase percentage has doubled for winter college programs compared to last year’s growth.

The number of applications for both colleges and universities has been growing every year. Compared to last year, Ontario colleges received 10 per cent more applications, while universities saw an increase of just over one per cent. With a closer look, these numbers grow even more.

?We believe that It’s a sign of the times in terms of the economic downturn,? said Sally Ritchie, Colleges Ontario’s senior communications. ?We anticipate that more people will be taking advantage of the training and re-training provided by colleges.?

The increase compared to last year in those not applying straight out of high school is nearly 12 per cent for Ontario colleges and almost 10 per cent for universities.

Ritchie says people look to higher education when facing a recession, and they might think upgrading with new skills is the best thing to do.

George Granger, executive director of Ontario Universities Application Council (OUAC), says this is a very good time to go back and get a better education.

?On one hand, you have the group in high school looking down the road, trying to prepare themselves for what lies ahead,? said Granger.

?Then you have this other group. Many find themselves within the certain reality based on the way the economy is today. The jobs that were there a year ago aren’t there now. The prospects of mobility that might have been there a year ago aren’t there today.?

With the increase in applications comes an increase in competition, but Ritchie says College Ontario will work with the government to ensure the colleges can accommodate these students.

?We certainly want to welcome them with open arms,? said Ritchie. ?But there’s a limit.?

More students in the classroom also means more classes, faculty, and potentially larger class sizes.

Deborah Calarco, associate registrar of admissions at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, says they are prepared for what lies ahead.

?Many of the schools plan additional sections just in case. With [the business program], we’ve used those sections,? she said.

Calarco says there won’t be any negative impact to the admissions cut-off, despite the substantial increase in applicants. She says Mohawk’s applicant pool is currently 11.7 per cent higher than it was last year.

?There are places where we had demand, but we couldn’t take more. In nursing, there is always a high demand and we could not accept everyone,? said Calarco.

Sam Maga, president of the faculty union at Mohawk College, says he doesn’t see there being a teacher shortage, even if the increase in applicants does translate into higher enrolment come September.

?As far as being able to put those students in classrooms and have teachers there, that never seems to be a problem,? said Maga. ?What category of teacher they will be in the classroom with is hard to say.?

With increases in enrolment, the college will have to hire more part-time faculty, he says.

?I would prefer that they hire full-time, obviously, to make sure that they have good jobs. As opposed to being part-time, being paid about a third of everybody else That’s full-time, without getting benefits, without getting job security or any protection of their rights,? said Maga.

But he says that Mohawk is one of the best colleges when it comes to maintaining an acceptable full-time to non full-time ratio.

?When you look at some of the other colleges, there are twice as many non full-time as there are full-time,? said Maga.

?The issue they have is funding. With the new economic challenge that we have in the country and in the world, That’s going to be a bigger problem in the future [than having more students]. If people are coming back to school or entering school due to population shifts, then the government has to respond, and they really haven’t.?