Sea Monkeys

Sometimes it seems as if nothing is ever explained. I mean come on, we took science class, raised the little sea monkeys, watched “possibility” videos on creationism, evolutionism, birthism (okay, I made that one up, oh well), you get the idea. Still, nothing was explained, if anything more questions were raised. Now, as an adult and teacher, it seems like more and more questions are being asked and I am supposed to be able to answer them without ever being given the study guide. Take yesterday for example, a small child was wondering around asking everyone, “Where did the sea monkeys come from?” How are you supposed to answer that? You can’t sit down with a four year old and tell them that a long time ago nothing lived on earth except bacteria and then the bacteria became bigger, and then they became plankton, then sea monkeys, etc. Also, if you try to tell them that God created everything and their parents don’t believe that, you have a law suit on your hands. While I was trying to decide how to handle this, another lady standing near us leaned over and said, “Honey, sea monkeys are monkeys that learned how to swim.” The child gave her a magnificent smile and asked, “So where do babies come from?” Her answer to this was, “I’m 56 and I still haven’t figured that one out…why don’t you ask Santa when you see him.” The child looked at her in a funny manner and replied, “Santa isn’t real silly, he’s just a fat man in a suit at the mall, I’ll ask the Easter Bunny!” We looked at each other and sighed as she ran off to demand her mother take her home so she could write a letter to the Easter Bunny. 
         Today a lady asked me what the point of teaching was when there aren’t any questions answered. We’re teaching children to read and write a language that seems almost obsolete in today’s society of text messaging, in which abbreviations and made up words replace writing things out, and e-mails have replaced snail mail. Even my parents and grandparents now prefer e-mailing or instant messaging, and my eighty-eight year old grandmother has an e-mail account. I don’t know what the point is in teaching mathematics to children who will use calculators for everything, or teaching them the periodic chart when most won’t ever think of it again, but I do know that perhaps one of my students will finally discover where those stinkin’ sea monkeys came from.
         Tomorrow there will be an article on my internet news forum in which we find out that sea monkeys are an ancient form of birth control, that didn’t work out. Perhaps we still don’t know all there is to know and we probably never will. But at least we will know what to tell annoying little four year olds who run around the super market asking meaningless, pointless questions to which we do not know the answer. Maybe it didn't solve anything, but at least now we know where sea monkeys come from.