When reading the newspaper last week, I was
reminded of yet another way that standard science curricula fail to meet the
needs of Afrikan people. Although Black children take courses in health and
biology, these courses do very little to help Afrikan people live healthier
lives. Science curricula for Afrikan children should offer substantial
instruction in health care and medical treatment.
In the News. Just last week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story about UPMC (the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center). Apparently the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, is
leading the City of Pittsburgh in a lawsuit against the hospital.
Now before I go any further I should clarify
one thing. To refer to UPMC as a "hospital" is a bit misleading. UPMC
is a $10 billion enterprise. If a comparison would help, the City of Pittsburgh brought
in just under 1/2 of $1 billion in 2011 ($489,317,000). UPMC is also the
largest property owner in the county.
What frosts Mr. Ravenstahl is that after
taking all this money from the residents of Pittsburgh, UPMC does not give the
city an adequate cut. In fact as a tax-exempt nonprofit, UPMC gets a $20
million tax break from the city. Ravenstahl wants UPMC to let the city wet its
beak. The city wants 6 years of back payroll taxes and removal of UPMC's
tax-exempt status.
The Implications. What does this mean for you and me? Not much. It is a reminder
that those who run the "healthcare" system care very little about
health. Instead they are stewards of a multi-trillion dollar industry that
maintains its revenues by maintaining us in sickness. The unfortunate reality
is that as science educators we are largely complicit.
Standard science curricula do very little to
teach Afrikan children strategies and techniques for ensuring good health.
These curricula do very little to teach Afrikan children about the threats
posed by the sick-care system. Given our current condition, Afrikan people
should possess the skills necessary to ensure their own good health without
reliance on the sick-care system run by whites.
What can we do? Let's start small! Help children
to get comfortable making assessments of their own bodies. Teach them to take
and record vital signs. The four primary vital signs are: body temperature,
pulse, blood pressure, and respiration. These can be taken with minimal
equipment and in a relatively short period of time. Additional useful measures
to be taken are height and weight.
Teaching children to take these measures can
be a fun exercise, but it should be much more. If we are serious about taking
control of our health, we would maintain running logs of our vital signs. We
would look for correlations between these measures and other life events (e.g.
stress level, diet, amount of exercise, etc.). We could also explore with
children what we can learn from these measures. What do they tell us about the
functioning of our bodies? What is the biological basis for each?
This small step brings Afrikan people a little
bit closer to self-determination and true health care. Why? ...because nobody is going
to care about our health like we do!
And remember… Have Fun!
Jomo W. Mutegi, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the Indiana University School of Education in Indianapolis. He is also a member of the (ES)2 Research Program, which works to advance STEM curricula that position people of African descent to improve their current social condition. To learn more about the (ES)2 Research Program visit: www.ES2RP.org.
