Author: Lisa Zheng
I hated science.
Not hate--disliked. That’s what adults always tell me. It’s kind of ironic how they suggest using euphemism when they don’t give a damn about using harsh words at all.
There we go. Adults again. If their standards were expressed in height, it would be as towering as Mount Everest.
They didn’t want me to dislike science, they wanted me to like it, even love it. They took me to science fairs, STEM events especially for girls, coding tryouts, you name it. Really, there was only one part that I liked: the people. Usually, other kids would be from other schools all over my small city, sometimes expanding bigger to the whole Sonoma County. There would be occasionally people that I knew of, but most of the time they were complete strangers.
And that was the fun part: sharing our differences while experimenting with whatever we were supposed to experiment with. We would be in the midst of a hot debate of the beauty/ugliness of Birkenstocks when someone would interrupt with an “Oh my gosh, I figured it out!” then if we were working in groups there’d be shouts of joy and high-fives. And if we weren’t, there’d be, “How did you do that?” and “Can you show me?”
Maybe you’re an advanced reader, or maybe you’re just very good at noticing tiny details. Whatever the reason, you may have noticed that I said ‘hated’ in the very first sentence, as in the past tense of ‘hate’.
All those times the adults forced me to attend those science activities and events gradually eased my hatred for science. When people are disinterested or bored with a subject, they usually express their feelings by saying they hate it. I had thought that science would be unexciting, but it became enjoyable once I got more involved.
The thing I like about science was the communication. I would always be surprised whenever somebody shared an idea that I didn’t think of. I love brainstorming, building off one another, and the happiness that would come afterward of succeeding together.
And that’s two words: science communication.
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