Re: Why Kids Aren't Much Interested In Science Careers

On 30 May 2006 17:26:54 -0700, "coco" <aozotorp@xxxxxxx> wrote:


Dave Head wrote:
Well, this could be _one_ of the reasons:

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/chemistry.html

Basically, the safety Nazis and the suers have made chemistry an unattainable
recreation / hobby for the kids nowadays.

Safety Nazis? Sounds like Ole Homeland Security of The Bush Admin!

Sorry, the Safety Nazi term originated with Joan Claybrook who was NHTSA head
during, I think, the Carter admin.


Whereas some of us as kids were able
to get the Gilbert chemistry sets, and others, and see what happens when you
mix this with that, and figure out what oxidizers do, the Feds in pursuit of
absolutely everyone that could do absolutely anything harmful with a chemical,
combined with parents who will sue the school system if Johnny burns a finger
on a bunsen burner, have pretty much chased chemistry class out of the school
system, as well as home experimentation out of the garage. Result: Kids don't
get interested in science in the numbers that they used to.

Dave Head

Oh, I don't know! Check out Carolina Biological Supply! Seems You can
do a lot!:

But that's biology, not chemistry. Its nowhere near as spectacular as mixing
potassium permanganate with glycerine to get a hypergolic reaction. Nitrogen
tri-iodide was also a lotta fun... so unstable it explodes in little cracks
when you'd touch it. Way cool stuff.

http://tinyurl.com/7zw8a

The problem is that as the Empire ages, as did Rome, the increasingly
entertained Citizens became self absorbed!! Especially in the case of
the US where the Average Citizen has no incentitive to go into
science!!

As the article pointed out, for _kids_, the incentive to get interested was, a
lot of the time, the small dangers associated with chemistry. That certainly
was true for me - I kinda overdid it and got into some really dangerous stuff,
but fortunately that didn't turn out badly - just dumb luck, tho, that it
didn't. Still managed to have a bad experience with some experimental rocket
fuel... <G>

Dave Head
.

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