January 12, 2000

DOWN HOME:
Considering alternatives,
chemistry isn't so awful
___The shine of a new semester sure wears off fast.
___A week into the Christmas vacation, Lindsay informed her mother and me she was bored and ready for school to start up again. But 10 days later, after two nights of chemistry homework, she informed us (fortunately, she grinned when she said this) she's

MARV KNOX

ready to drop out of school.
___Lindsay convinced herself--for 15 minutes at least--she'd rather flip burgers for a living than tackle chemistry homework five nights a week.
___But if she quits school now, at age 16, that means she'll have at least 49 years of burger flipping ahead of her.
___"Or maybe you'd get lucky and become a manager of a fast-food restaurant," her mother observed. "Then you could ride herd over a crew of teenagers every day of your life."
___Never underestimate the power of perspective. Up against herding teenage burger-flippers for five decades, five months of chemistry homework doesn't look so bad.
___Lindsay thinks we can't understand what she's going through, what with all this chemistry homework. But, of course, we can.
___We took chemistry too.
___Chemistry provided one of the academic and emotional trials of my childhood. My daddy, a pastor, changed churches during my junior year in high school, and I changed schools at the semester break.
___At the first school, the chemistry teacher didn't require us to memorize the table of elements. The table would be available in any lab where we might work, he reasoned. So, why bother with memorizing a bunch of symbols and numbers?
___But he never worked in the lab of the chemistry teacher in the other high school. She loved to teach chemistry because she loved to torture kids. And what better way to torture them than by making them memorize approximately 5 jillion pieces of information on the table of elements?
___She especially enjoyed that January, when a shy kid from a much smaller school joined the class halfway through the year and hadn't memorized the table of elements.
___I believed that teacher awoke each morning to contemplate the happy prospect of ruining my life.
___Fortunately, I had a lab partner named Charlie. He was a tough guy, and cool. But he knew his elements and had a sense of humor. Although he wouldn't admit it, he had a soft spot for a shy, scared preacher's kid. Charlie taught me the table of elements and helped me understand the world of atoms. Maybe he saved me from a lifetime of flipping burgers.
___You never know what kind of impact you'll have on others. And the grace of God is more important than the table of elements. Teach it. Live it.
_

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