Emerging Philosophical Statement

Imagination is more important than knowledge –Albert Einstein

I am saddened by scientific illiteracy, and people’s rejection of STEM. I am not upset by

people not going into the STEM field, but I am upset at the STEM educators that turned an

interested person into a disgruntled one. This disgruntledness carries from year to year, evolving

into a hatred and rejection of the sciences and mathematics. It is the job of an educator,

especially a STEM educator, to be a conduit between the universe and the hungry minds of

tomorrow. Rather than impose the universe onto students, which drives them away from the

beauty of the universe, why not allow the students to be taught by the universe. The job of a

scientist is not to hoard information, but rather share and build upon it.

Creativity and Exploration

I did not fall in love with science because of electron transference, definitely not, I fell in

love with science because of experiments. Sodium is a highly volatile metal, put it in water and

you will get sparks. Chlorine gas is highly toxic, it was even utilized in WWI. What do you get

when you mix a volatile metal that sparks when it touches water, and an extremely dangerous

gas together? Table salt. Also, the reaction between Na and Cl is quite beautiful. As a science

educator, I would want to implement more experimentation in the classroom. Creativity will also

breed from more experiments. You cannot only teach the theoretical aspect of science, without

the practical aspect as well, and it is this practical aspect that I fell in love with.

Bullying and Violence

Violence, no matter the medium, will not be tolerated in the classroom. A zero violence

policy will be enacted. Tests should be the only reason why students feel stressed. If any student

were to show signs of being bullied, I will not hesitate in reporting to my superior, or counselors
located in the school. Schools and classrooms are areas of knowledge and learning, not areas to

feel threatened, or looked down upon. Any and all student’s opinions and ideas will be valued,

for science would be nothing without open-mindedness.

Cultural Diversity

Science cannot be furthered by the few, but must be passed on to the many. If we were to

exclude even 10% of our fellow man, that is a 10% loss to science and society. That is a 10%

loss to scientific discovery, and brain power. And who knows, maybe in that 10% is the modern

day Newton, or Einstein. But sadly, this person is ineligible to participate in the field of science,

due to genetics. As said in the Bullying and Violence section, all opinions and ideas from all

students should not only be valued, but valued equally.