Breaking slides

"You got break slide under microscope before?"

My tuition kid suddenly asked me.

After my standard reaction of "Huh?", which was partly to buy time in order to figure her words out, I said, "No, I have never broken a slide under the microscope."

"But my Biology teacher broke one once." I remembered.

"What? Really???? You mean teacher got do like that one? Hahahaha!" She squealed with delight.

It set me thinking. What was so funny about a teacher breaking a slide under the microscope? It's easy to do, you just need to lower the coarse adjustment knob till the objective lens hits the slide, and crunch! There goes your valuable slide along with your valuable cells! Easy.

What was it then that amused the kid so much? Why did she think that it was unacceptably funny that a teacher should break a slide under a microscope? It scared me a bit actually. To think that I am part of the "people who can't make mistakes because they are grown-ups".

Tutoring is such an enlightening experience. It not only gives me insights into what goes on inside the head of an 11-year-old, it also makes me sit down and think of myself as a grown-up! It's amazing how kids really look up to grown-ups. They think that we are perfect, and that we always know what to do and what to say. That we always know the answers to all their questions. That we can never make mistakes. That we know exactly how to live our lives.

Scary.

When deep inside, we are often just as clueless as they are.