Jello. X-rays and Education

I recently had a conversation with a man named Tom who made fortune from extracting silver from old x-ray film. Curious to find out how he got into this line of work I pursued his story. He told me that the practice of extracting silver from x-ray film was complicated, costly and dangerous since it involved the use of cyanide to beak down the x-ray celluloid so the silver could be extracted.

One day he was in the kitchen making red Jello with fresh pineapple. He noticed that the Jello would not set. Curious, he investigated and discovered that pineapple contained a protelytic enzyme known as bromelain. Bromaelain prevented the Jello from setting. Tom wondered if Bromelain might have a similar effect on x-ray celluloid thus eliminating the need for cyanide. It worked!

What is fascinating about Tom's discovery is it begins with a question. Why won't the Jello set? Rather than toss the lot and start over Tom's question drove him to find the answer - bromelain. It could have ended there but Tom had another question. Could bromelain do for x-ray celluloid what it did to Jello thus eliminating the dangerous cyanide from the process? The answer - yes.

Tom's story is a lesson for educators everywhere. Too often educators focus on what they are teaching and lose the process of learning. This is the problem in many educational systems around the world that teach to the test and narrow the scope of learning to data transmission and acquisition. To its detriment the church has followed the path of public education.

The right data and right answers are important but equally important are the right questions.
Tom's story shows us that the right question can lead to the right information and the right answer. Educators in the church need to encourage curiosity and questioning; trusting that the right answer(truth) will come to meet the needs of the question.

By the way, for his curiosity Tom was rewarded with a patent and a penny for every pound of recycled x-ray film. A small question turned into a big payday.


The Accidental Educator