If your family's safety is compromised, I have to question the wisdom of returning the young axemurderer to class, especially in the light of his continuing threats. Can't he be kicked out of school at all?
It is shockingly sad when kids prematurely lose their sense of wonder like that. One always takes comfort in assuming that all kids are born scientists and little explorers, and that their interests will be catered for by a society that is only too willing to indulge their children. But clearly this cannot be true everywhere, and the ideal maybe applies only to a privileged handful. I suppose poverty and crime will soon erode young minds to mere survival machines, leaving no time for luxury persuits like examining a plant leaf. They were robbed of something very precious. I don't know if it can be replaced without taking them away from the poverty, drugs and the murder. But what can one do but keep trying.
Can you instill a feel for scientific thinking during your already heroic efforts to teach astronomy? Maybe pose questions that will lead to discussion and rekindle curiosity once more. What keeps the moon in the sky? Why is it round? Why don't we see stars during the day? These are all questions the kids should be asking anyway. Maybe they just need a bit of extra prompting. If the kids can be equipped with some analytical thinking skills, perhaps it will also help them make the right choices in other terrains in life.
There is no easy answer, because after the presentation, the little guys will be off to an environment of poverty and crime once more. Hopefully they can take something away with them that will equip them better to their challenging surroundings. It really is heartbreaking.
Mintaka
PS Welcome to the forum
