I remember being late for my senior year Chemistry class. As I grabbed the last seat in the back of the room I could tell that a boy in my class was engaged in yet another debate with the teacher. Jim was a bright student but he felt that he knew more than Mr. Roberts our Chemistry teacher. Mr. Roberts had been teaching at my school for the past 40 years and every student loved him, at least everyone but Jim.
Today’s debate was about the chemical reaction between Sodium and H2O. Mr. Roberts had patiently described the explosive effects of combining these two elements as well as the potential damage that this combination could cause. He explained that combining H20 and Sodium can create an explosion that can greatly burn people. Even if you survived the explosion there would be long lasting genetic effects that you could potentially pass on to your children.
Jim outspokenly argued that Mr. Roberts was mistaken, and that it was simply a lack of understanding on Mr. Robert’s part about how to handle the experiment. Jim insisted that the experiment was safe and that new studies had proved that the two elements could be safely combined. Half of the students in the class seemed to side with Jim while the other half sided with Mr. Roberts.
As I observed from the back, I could see that Mr. Roberts was becoming more and more exasperated with Jim’s constant challenges. Finally Mr. Roberts turned to the class and said, “In the interest of fairness, I see that there is only one way to solve this disagreement. Jim please take the lead on this experiment. The sodium is stored in cabinet 4.” “ Since you don’t seem to need my input on this I will be stepping out for the day and will see the class tomorrow, in the meantime, I want everyone to stay for the experiment to determine if Jim is correct in his challenges”
Jim agreed and began to set up for the experiment. He pulled the sodium out of the cabinet and placed in in the vacuum chamber. He then took the water and proceeded to place it in its own vessel. Jim turned to the Class and said “Mr. Roberts just doesn’t understand current chemistry. He is a nice guy but he is misled by conventional thinking. On the count of three I will open this valve between the two chambers. One….. Two….. Three…….”
I lost 15 of my classmates that day in the explosion. 11 of us were badly burned and received skin grafts. The Doctors told the 11 of us that survived that our genes had been changed and that our children and grandchildren would with a certainty have deforming birth defects. Ironically, Jim survived the explosion. As I look in the mirror at my disfigured face I wonder to myself….
· Was it fair for Mr. Roberts to allow the experiment to proceed even though he knew what the likely outcome would be?
· Why didn’t he simply dismiss the challenging student?
· Why couldn’t he have dismissed the rest of the class except for Jim, thereby isolating the damage resulting from the challenge?
· Why did Mr. Roberts allow 15 students to die, and 11 of us be forever deformed in the interest of proving a student wrong?
Was Mr. Roberts simply so insecure in his knowledge and authority that he had to allow death and destruction of innocent bystanders to prove his point?
Special thanks goes to a jwn poster who thought of the framework of this scenario that stuck in my mind.
siam