To Know and to Care

Yesterday was another very fruitful day. It was supposed to be tough, but I found it to be a rewarding challenge. We were delivering another taster session and this was the first one Erica and I have done together. This will likely not happen too often so it was interesting to see how the dynamic between us worked. It was great to have Erica there to do all of the relationship building work that I am really not at all good at. That was one huge advantage, and my shrewdest move to date has been working with her.

This was a school that was allegedly challenging in the extreme. Obviously I won't name the school, but the students there are purported to be challenging, with emotional and behavioural issues and so forth. Of course this was borne out in the lesson, they were higher maintenance and had a stack of teenage attitude (I love that about teenagers), but it was an extremely interesting and engaging lesson. Naturally the first half hour was loaded with sulking and pretending not to care, but as time went on more and more of them became interested and thrilled by the science of astronomy, vindicating my belief and conviction that knowledge is always the winner in a fight between it and ignorance and apathy.

These students are good kids who need people who not only know, but who also care - exactly the kind of students Beauty in the Universe loves.

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