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Blog of Kip McGrath Education Centres - Holdfast Bay

Why?

July 07
by Annie 7. July 2013 22:13

 

At what age do we stop asking why? Children have a natural curiosity and a huge, undiscovered world on their doorstep that they need to know more about. ‘Why are leaves green?’ ‘Why are clouds fluffy?’ ‘Where does all the rain come from?’ ‘Why does Uncle Fred have long nose hairs?’ They will keep asking ‘why?’ until they have the answers, even if it means asking ‘why?’ five or more times.

Their inquisitive nature has an important function. Every question puts their little feet a step closer to understanding their place in the universe.

Somewhere along the way however the questions lessen. It happens to all of us. There are a number of obvious reasons for this. We learn enough to satisfy initial curiosity and start discovering for ourselves. We make friends and start ‘pooling’ information. We attend school and discover an unending supply of data that needs to be processed that leaves little time for questions.

But there is another important factor that stops our natural questioning ability in its tracks: adults. Let’s be honest, in the middle of a busy modern life crammed full of things like work, the mortgage, sports, social engagements, love and travel, little kids asking ‘why?’ all the time can get, well, a little bit annoying. True?

And that is the reality faced by these little enquiring minds. They want to know everything, they want to know it now, and they have no social sensitivities to stop them, until the ‘big people’ start making it clear that asking too many questions is bad, or at least, inconvenient. Apparently there is an unspoken limit. So after a few attempts they reduce the number of questions they ask. This becomes the new, internal, social norm. And this continues.

By the time we have adapted to the rhythm of school, our natural instinct to question has been dampened down and we are shifting in to ‘receiving’ mode, ready to spend the next twelve plus years recording, filing, ordering and retransmitting, data.

 When we come across an adult who questions intensively, we are amazed; the James Dysons, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of the world are ‘one in a million’, genetically unique. But they aren’t really, they are simply curious, and their curiosity is more powerful than any social norms that protect our sensitivities by limiting the number of times we can ask ‘why?’ 

Education runs in cycles. When I was young we read, listened, memorised and repeated. Questioning was not a big part of the curriculum. Later on this was largely replaced by ‘inquiry’ learning, which emphasised the need for children to discover rather than receive information. The two camps have been fighting for years and perhaps always will.

The best for children is perhaps a mixture of the two. Times tables are not an ‘inquiry’ they are a fact and need to be memorised. Later maths, in particular algebra, is more about discovery, and children need to have the freedom to explore concepts, and, ask questions.

Mark and I regularly have friends for dinner, and we enjoy bringing together mixed groups to see what will happen. Inevitably the best evenings leave behind a few empty bottles, and this is significant. The contents of the bottles break down the social conventions and the ‘why’s?’ flow freely across the table. We discover so much more about people when we all lose this ridiculous inhibition that prevents us from asking questions.

Now, I am not encouraging drinking as a social improvement exercise, but I am suggesting that a few more ‘why’s?’ in the world may not be a bad thing. All of which leads me to suggest that the next time a young mind looks at you with wide, anticipating eyes and says ‘why?’, you pause, draw breath, count to a patient ‘10’ if you need to, and answer them as honestly as you can. Encourage the curiosity of the next generation, and, while you’re at it, ask a few more questions yourself. You never know what new paths it may lead you down. 

 

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Comments (2) -

7/8/2013 10:53:50 AM #

Jenny & Dillon

I think it would just be easier if we all have microchips implanted in our brains with search engines!  Dillon delights in asking me questions to which the answers I have never pondered.  Praise the Lord for Google!

Jenny & Dillon Australia

7/10/2013 3:02:40 PM #

John Haren

Thanks Annie for the thought provoking article. Curiosity drives an interesting world and an interesting life. We are in danger of becoming formulaic in some many aspects of our lives. This can really stifle curiosity and hence innovation. As an example I think many journalists in our mainstream media have lost the art of being curious and are prone to finding issues that support adherence to an editorial line. Let's rediscover our natural curiosity and not led it be diminished repressive systems or other barriers to our thinking.

John Haren Australia

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