MY VIEW
John S. Bis: Society is stifling childhood curiosity
I’m certain I got a real scare when the cork stopper let go and shot up, bouncing off the ceiling. This small explosion was immediately followed by a brownish glop flying out of the test tube. Unfortunately the contents of the test tube didn’t bounce, but remained up there, splattered. After this first reaction to the explosion, I probably felt sorry for Dorothy, the baby sitter. I had talked her into letting me play with my chemistry set. She, of course, was in a panic.
This happened when I was 8 or 9 and before the federal government, and contemporary society, conspired to make the world safe for children. Dorothy was baby sitting, not so much for me as my 2- year-old brother. I had pestered her until she finally allowed me to use my chemistry set, which I set up on the kitchen table.
It was a real nifty set. It had a microscope and at least a dozen small containers of chemicals. The instruction book was a children-level text for conducting simple experiments. Unfortunately, I must have missed the basics of boiling liquids easily converting into a gas — a gas capable of sending a cork stopper flying!
I wonder, do regulatory agencies still allow children to have chemistry sets? My chemistry set was one of the highlights of my early grammar school years. I was fascinated by biographies I had read of Madame Curie, Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur and others. I spent many hours with the chemistry set, its chemicals and with the microscope. I mixed compounds and solutions, watched things crystallize and examined things under the microscope.
My curiosity was definitely enlivened by these activities. And I learned through trial and error. The kitchen experiment that evening was one of those errors. And it taught me something beyond the scope of the chemistry set’s experiments. I learned that if you wipe down part of a kitchen ceiling that hasn’t been painted for several years, the part you wiped results in a different tone of color from the rest of the ceiling. And, importantly, I learned that a mother will immediately notice such things!
So my experiments with that wonderful chemistry set were curtailed for a while and, afterward, allowed only under more direct supervision. That rule held for a while I suppose, but it certainly didn’t diminish my interest in science. I’m sure that if today’s child-proofing regulations had been in effect, I would not have had firsthand access to all those chemicals. And my early interest in experimentation probably would not have developed.
Think about it. Is it any wonder that today’s Dick and Jane are overweight and almost permanently fixed in front of the television set? Where is the adventure, the daring, the curiosity of childhood to take place any more? We have rules that mandate children must wear helmets while riding their bikes; knee and elbow pads for roller skaters; and toys that are swallow-proof, jab-proof, shatterproof, toxic-proof and flame-retardant.
I may be living in a different world but, you know, I’m glad I was young back then. I believe I developed a better appreciation for the world in which we live — this exciting, adventurous and, yes, potentially risky and dangerous world. Today’s childhood world seems too simulated, too virtual, too prepackaged and overly protected for a child’s proper maturation. Of course I may be wrong, but I also worry that I may be right.
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