Questions are the single most important tool for innovative thinking. They are the starting point for new ideas. In A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger, he describes why questions are such a fundamental part of our lives. It is the ability to organize our thinking around what we don’t know. Questions helps us process the world and attempt to understand what we do not know. They are an incredibly vital part of society but are too often overlooked. We become too focused on what we know, that we lose track of what is unknown, which is often more valuable. In my commonplace book, I drew a child asking "why?" to represent the never-ending inquisitiveness of children. I was shocked to learn that a child asks approximately 40,000 questions between the ages two to five. This makes sense; we’ve all been pestered by little kids who don’t stop asking us about how everything works. Children are the best questioners because of their intense curiosity. They are constantly encountering new things they do not understand and trying to categorize the world around them. Their brains are forming rapid neural connections, and their world is full of novel things to explore. Adults often suppress their curiosity and get frustrated by the never-ending questions, because often, they don’t know the answers. But instead of shutting down their questions, we need to encourage inquiry. Children notice many things that adults don’t notice because they simply aren’t looking. Not only should we encourage the curiosity of children, we should emulate it. We must “attempt to adjust the way [we] look at the world so that [our] perspective more closely aligns with that of a curious child” (page 75). Once we “step back,” we notice what others miss. In order to ask valuable, innovative questions, we must stop “knowing” and begin to wonder. In my commonplace notebook, I drew a polaroid camera to show a real world example of a simple question that sparked a revolutionary idea. “Why do we have to wait for the picture?” This was the question that Edwin Land’s daughter posed of her father after he explained they needed to take their pictures to a darkroom to be processed. Anyone could have asked this question. What matters is whether you act on it. In this case, this simple question inspired Mr. Land to invent the Polaroid camera. A question asked by a three-year-old lead to valuable insights that resulted in a revolutionary idea and successful product. If questioning is so fundamental, why does our education system seems to discourage it? Schools are focused on squeezing so much information into a curriculum that it leaves little room or time for questioning. When school starts becoming more rigorous and test-based, young children’s curiosity starts to fade. We start penalizing wrong answers. The classroom no longer feels comfortable, creative, or curious. The education system should promote questioning and not knowing all the answers, not punish students for wondering. Having the answers is important, but having the critical thinking skills to ask informed questions is more important. Many times in school I begin a question by saying, “this is a dumb question, but….” I realized this is an unhealthy way to preface valuable thoughts. No one should ever view their thoughts or questions as “dumb.” This book touched on the social pressure that causes people to hold in their questions. People don’t want to defy authority or appear incompetent or insubordinant. To ask meaningful questions, you have to be comfortable with not knowing and exposing vulnerability. We have to challenge what everybody else just accepts. We need to stop acting like we know everything because this makes us less receptive to new ideas and possibilities. We need to become children again. We need to keep wondering; we must encourage inquiry. It is the only way to open ourselves up to new possibilities and breakthroughs. I am excited to grapple with philosophical, profound questions throughout the year in APLit. I hope to ask insightful questions that will enhance the conversation and lead to new discoveries. As a class, I hope we can find answers, but most importantly, ask the right questions. Not only do I want to ask the right questions, but I want to act on them, like Edwin Land did in response to his daughter’s question.
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AuthorI'm Melissa! I love cats, violin, books, and Netflix. Archives
November 2019
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