Curiosity: an Education in Itself

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” -Albert Einstein

One of the greatest minds of all time gives the credit for his genius to being passionately curious. Learning, at its core, consists of being curious about something and building new pathways due to this curiosity.

Then how did humanity get off track? I can’t count how many times I have heard parents shut down their inquisitive 6 year olds by saying, “You ask too many questions.” (Normally, this answer is also a cover for, “I don’t know the answer to your question but I don’t want to admit it.”)

Then, when said child enters school, that process of inquisitive learning is strangled still more. Every single child learns exactly the same information at exactly the same time. The one oddball that never has time for the standard schoolwork is considered a “problem child” by his teachers. From day 1, kids are conditioned to quell their own desire to ask questions and seek out information for themselves.

I am not saying that the basics of Reading and Math are not essential to education. I am, however, challenging the idea that every child has to memorize concept A by age x, and know date B by age y. Why not let the natural inquisitive process have its way in a kid’s development?

Life naturally has an ebb and flow that our brains follow. We have a question about something, become intensely curious about the answer, and follow hard after experience and information until we are satisfied. In addition, we learn dozens of other surrounding information simply by the process of seeking the answer we want. We are inquisitive creatures.

This ebb and flow, when quenched, chills a child’s love of learning. That’s why so many kids hate school with a passion. “But you need to learn,” parents admonish, and so the child follows through with high school, then college, because it’s what he has to do. Then, “Get a job,” they say, and the now-full-grown adult follows through with the quota. After several decades of hum-drum work and some vacations here and there, ” Retire” they say, and an old, tired, grumpy human spends the rest of his days watching TV and expressing pessimistic views of the general world. Thus ends the life cycle of the human, as dictated by the systems and mindsets we have set in place.

How different would this cycle look if parents allowed the inquisitive mindset to have full reign in a child’s education process?

We might see a world of Einsteins.

Photo by Casper Aprikatis on Unsplash