As a STEM-focused student, I feel that I was implicitly taught that there is a structured, almost formulaic way of solving problems. The scientific method, hypothesis testing, even something as simple as PEMDAS. There is an order and a process. Follow it, and you’ll arrive at the correct answer. If that structure isn’t followed, if we don’t have enough evidence, then there are no “accurate” conclusions to be made. The correct answer is to withhold judgment.
This way of thinking is so engraved in me that during my first day in class, I completely disregarded the stakes by prioritizing methodological certainty over human urgency.
Learning about the concept of the counterfactual really put things into perspective. Although I had never heard the term prior, I realized it’s something we use every day in our reasoning without even thinking about it. What would happen if I did nothing at all? In global health, that question carries an entirely different weight than anything I’ve ever been asked to consider in a problem set. Considering ow many lives would be lost? How many families would suffer? How many more cases of disease would arise? The decision is no longer linear or structured.
In the classroom, uncertainty often ends the conversation. In global health, uncertainty is where the conversation begins.
I am not disregarding the importance of structure. Science needs structure. Evidence matters. But I am beginning to realize that there are moments where that rigid structure needs to be bent and twisted to literally save lives. Sometimes the humanity cannot wait on perfection.
It has only been two weeks, and this class is already training me to think differently. To really exercise my creativity in science, which is something I didn’t realize I would have to do when it came to putting my schooling into practice. It is important to have the knowledge but to making change requires applying that knowledge in creative, thoughtful, and human ways.
This class has made and is making me even more excited to keep growing into the kind of scientist I want to become.
Prof. Smith reassuring us for the 100th that the slides will INDEED be on canvas after class so theres no need for photography :p