Another longish thread on education in light of the mlechCha-liberal fake news that the periodic table had been removed from the Indian curriculum. Here again, I take a similar view to evolution that it should be introduced early.
I acknowledge that chemistry is a difficult subject to introduce. After starting with the atomic theory do you make the students go down the route of gas laws, moles and the foundations of thermodynamics; or do you make them study the basic types of compounds, or do you introduce them to the diversity of elements and their properties?
I personally feel gas/thermodynamics/specific heat can wait. When chemistry is first introduced I think it should start with atomic theory; then the common elements and their types should be studied without the periodic table; then common types of compounds. These can all take up the first year. The next year the periodic table should be introduced with a deep dive into the elements because that is what sets chemistry aside as a science. I think the intersection with physics, law of mass action etc should be introduced only after that in the following year by which time the students will have a slightly better hang of the necessary mathematics. These should all be crammed in before the 10 class.
Unlike many people and chAchAjI, I don’t think science (or math) is for everybody as a long term pursuit but is useful as a character-building experience for a modern individual. Hence, after 10th class those who choose to opt out of science can do so - but in the above vision, they’ll still be exposed to a decent depth of it. That way if they realized that there might be use for it later in their life, they’ll at least be in a position to make that call and know what they need to recall to help them reconnect.
But I do recognize that AI could drastically reduce the very need for such education for the masses if it doesn’t kill/enslave us all.