Overcoming unrealistic expectations about the US school system
It was science fair at my daughter’s school. I was jittery with excitement looking forward to the wonders I will lay my eyes on. My daughter’s in preK so I wasn’t expecting too much from her class. But images of fourth grade kids operating robots flashed across my mind.
I’ve never been to a science fair. We didn’t have science fairs where I grew up. We had science projects and performed experiments. But we mostly considered them lame. We suffered from some form of inferiority complex where we believed that everything happening across the ocean was bigger, brighter, better. Okay, I wasn’t always aware of ‘the outside world’. But as I grew older, learned about other countries, developed countries, and learned that I was from a third world country (often called undeveloped but it made me feel better to say ‘developing’), the feelings of inadequacy grew.
So it was with great expectations that I walked into the school. First to Darling Angel’s preK class where they had created a board about germs and how they spread. They demonstrated how germs spread by coating their hands with cocoa powder and touching various objects. I figure that’s age appropriate. So I head to the older grades looking forward to see a smoking volcano, robotic devices, something that did something. But instead, I see boards with pictures and text of various observatory activities the kids engaged in. I headed from classroom to classroom hoping to see a device/something that did something. But more boards.
I felt so disappointed. These all looked like the same kinds of activities we called science projects in the third world. I had considered them lame, a result of lack of better resources. I wanted to see more from the developed world.
I went home and pondered what I had seen. I pondered some more, then it hit me. These kids were doing great projects. I recalled the bright, excited faces as the kids explained what they had observed. Isn’t that what science is all about?
As for my unrealistic expectations, I blame it on being labelled “third world” and “undeveloped”. And of course, the media. I bet I must have seen some movies (and cartoons) with teeny geniuses creating world changing devices. Now I understand that fifth grade kids are still observing their world. They need a little more time to translate those observations into said devices. I expect said devices to be ready for middle school. Gee! I can’t wait to see a middle school science fair.
