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Greene's article is a pointed commentary on the scientific education many students are receiving in public schools. The examples he uses to illustrate how science can be a source of inspiration are often about individuals who are not in school such as the highlighted case of the soldier in Iraq. What he seems to be saying is that science is more then just an area of study,science is first and foremost a way to examine and understand the world we live in.He complains that in schools students get so bogged down with the meaningless memorization of facts and methods that they never experience the true joy of science, the joy of discovery.
In this I absolutely agree with him. Although I have gained much knowledge and wonder from my science classes in middle and high school I have always found inspiration through other means. I know that having a plan, a solid method of examination allows scientists to take advantage of their discoveries but, some of the greatest discoveries of our time happened as an accident or purely by chance. Although science is reliant on the scientific method and on an objective way to examine scientific phenomenon, scientific curiosity is the most important thing that we can learn in order to bring science into our lives. For example, look at the Hadron particle collider in Europe, although scientists do not know exactly what will happen when they turn it on they are going to do it anyway.Why? Because they have a desire to know, to learn that is so strong they will risk the unknown to find that perfect knowledge.
All science can be applied to real life (in that respect I must disagree with Mr. Greene) but if the joy of learning and the desire to explore is crushed by mindless tedium in the classroom then science will find itself being slowly abandoned by the younger generations. I agree with Mr. Greene that the science curriculum should be revised to allow for more free exploration of ideas and less memorization of methodology. After all if free thinking and exploration is not the most vital aspect of scientific advancement then I do not know what is.