Gees, again.

Sammye is right. 

The principal said in a notification to parents at the school:

"É Let me take this opportunity to assure you that providing a safe and secure learning environment is a top priority at Redan High School. This is an isolated incident and all safety measures will be reviewed. É Please do not hesitate to contact me at 678-676-3602 should you have any questions".

The incident may well be "isolated" at that high school, but there is little comfort in this observation, and it reveals the lack of knowledge about the nationwide problem with this kind of demonstration (and lack of proper training on the part of the teacher).  Perhaps an appropriately crafted statement from the CHAS/CCS to the principal would correct some of her mis-conceptions. 

Getting the right information about such hazards and risks to every public and private school in the country (É and I think that we don't have much insight into similar situation in other countriesÉ) is a huge challenge.  We should continue to work the AACT and NSTA to do the best we can. 

I have tremendous sympathy for all K-12 teachers in every classroom and lab across the country as the challenge of teaching students in today's environment.  Even at the college level ( = my experience) about half of my effort in teaching students has little to do with chemistry.  Today's students need a wide range of support regarding both academic challenges and personal/social challenges that affect their ability to learn.  In this context, "teaching chemistry" is the easiest part of a chemistry teacher's job; we are asked to function as counselors/advisor to address a host of non-chemistry issues.  (If you are over 30, I would suggest that almost everything that you experienced as a high school/college student is not representative of today's classroom/lab.)  Many high school teachers are well intended and use demonstrations as a combination of "relevant entertainment" that is intended to motivate, inspire, and "just make chemistry fun".   This does not absolve them of being responsible about safety, and we all know that the education future chemistry teacher receive is clearly inadequate to the degree that "they don't know what they don't know" about safety.   An inclination to vilify the teacher is understandable, but he/she likely the person who feels the worst about this event.  Let's keep up our good work and effort to improve this situation.  We will never know about what tragedies will be averted because of our efforts, but we know what we need to do with that hope in mind.

Dave

David C. Finster
Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry
Wittenberg University

 

Sure looks like it could be.  Obviously something to do with mishandling of solvents.

This is an isolated incident and all safety measures will be reviewed.

I would beg to differ that this is an "isolated incident".
S-

This just came from my news scanner 

 

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/15-year-old-student-burned-in-chemistry-experiment-at-high-school-in-dekalb/973477391&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMzg5NjI4ODY3OTM1NTA3MTg4NTIaOTk5ODc4NTZhMzcyZTc3MDpjb206ZW46VVM&usg-QjCNH8YLzQzx2ZZ0pNPIxUCA_UtzOtwQ

 

 

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