THE MILITARY,SARS, AND 30 SCREAMING CHILDREN WHY AND HOW WE NEED TO INVEST IN PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION By
SARAH NAKASONE SWATHI BALAJI (Editor)
“Anna says you were lying this morning.” Grace’s accusation gets merely a blink from me. At barely five foot and clad in the XL paper lab coat that I pulled out of the storage room this morning, she hardly cuts an imposing figure. I’ve reached the point in my teaching career that accusations about my character rank so far down on the list of things that keep me awake at night that I can dignify her anger with a humming noise. No one is mishandling 6 molar HCL, and no one is about to flood the lab. We’re fine. Grace, of course, does not have the same perspective and my non-answer barely registers as she barrels right into the rant she has apparently been building ever since Anna told her whatever
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Anna told her this morning. “Anna-says-that-you-were-lying-and-that-actually-everythingis-fine-and-that-couldn’t-be-truebecause-you-TOLD-me-that-allthat-stuff-was-happening-butAnna-seems-SO-sure-and-I-justdon’t-” We used up all the Advil last week when we had the 5th graders in the lab, so I interrupt before she can get any shriller. Of all the things I don’t expect to have to explain to high school science students, the fact I have to clarify this makes me a little disheartened for the state of STEM in our nation. “Grace. The activity this morning? That was make believe. I’m not actually from the CDC and you certainly aren’t dying this week from SARS.”
