Daily Herald editorial: Lost opportunity?

The growth in STEM programs in schools in recent years has been inspiring. The United States has woken up to the notion that it has some catching up to do in terms of mastering science, technology, engineering and math skills and propelling more of its youth into these fields.

Girls, notably, are showing much greater interest in these areas, owing to mentors in the field showing them the way.

So it’s a little puzzling when on the day that millions of eyes are cast to the heavens for a singular cosmic event ― a total solar eclipse ― some schools failed to capitalize on the once-in-a-childhood scientific phenomenon.

Millions of people rushed to the eclipse’s slash through the eastern half of the country where the eclipse was visible Monday with special glasses, telescopes and cameras equipped with special filters, and homemade pinhole camera boxes.

But in many of the cities along the path of the eclipse, kids were kept home from school. School districts cited heavy tourist traffic, educational opportunities, family bonding and safety as reasons to keep kids out of school.

That feels like a bit of a cop-out. Who better to make this a learning experience than science teachers? Who better to explain the safety concerns and ensure their young charges use proper equipment? Who better to continue the conversation after the eclipse is over?

Viewing an eclipse is worth an incalculable number of hours at the blackboard or doing experiments with a Bunsen burner. It helps to make the unknown more concrete. It inspires.

Sending kids home for the eclipse didn’t make them any safer from eye damage. Science teachers know what to do and what not to do. Not every parent will monitor kids in a situation like that or have all of the knowledge to know the perils of looking into the sky in the middle of the day, so kids weren’t necessarily safer at home than at school.

What this feels like is an abdication of a school’s responsibility to keep children safe during school hours ― removing the school from any liability ― at the cost of a rich educational experience.

Some suburban schools closed midway through the day for teacher development time.

We already know the next eclipse won’t be for another 20 years. With all of this lead time, perhaps the eclipse ought to be put on school calendars before anything else.

Unfortunately, the next total solar eclipse won’t be until Aug. 23, 2044, and will be visible only in North Dakota and Montana before moving through mostly uninhabited parts of Canada.

The next will be less than a year later on Aug. 12, 2045, and stretch from coast to coast, from southern California to Florida, missing Illinois.

These are not theories, mind you, but math and physics long established by people who looked up at a darkening midday sky, wondered what in the world was going on and decided to find out.

That’s the spirit of STEM. And that’s what we ought to be teaching our kids.