“Add two tablespoons of baking soda and then carefully pour the vinegar into the ‘mountain’, and watch out for the eruption ...” announced the student, demonstrating his experiment. These were the exact words I had uttered in my school science fair 10 years ago.
This déjà vu moment came during a recent visit to a school science fair. As I entered the hall, noticeable by its absence was the most commonly abused science experiment, the ‘baking soda volcano’. It was the safest and easiest way to get a participation certificate and a nod from the teacher.
But as I ventured further I realised to my dismay that I was amid a chain of baking soda volcanoes occupying an entire section erupting with the same chorus of explanations. What used to occupy a corner of the science fair in my school days has now evolved into an entire section. It seemed as if more and more students are succumbing to the safe and easy ‘baking soda volcano syndrome’.
Schools have been innovation factories where there is absolute freedom to commit mistakes and tolerate failure. But nowadays students seem to want to satisfy themselves with the safest and easiest options, especially with regard to allied academic activities such as projects and assignments. Most of their creations appear to be just modifications of established and proven ideas.
Taking the safest route is an attitude which eventually develops into a herd mentality with students just going with the flow. This flow accords safe passage at the cost of real freedom and identity, two values that make us human. As the film “October Sky” showed a bunch of school children build an actual rocket for their science fair, students must be given the freedom to fail and succeed so that they can become better human beings in the future.
It is worth recalling what Mahatma Gandhi said: “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
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