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Learning should mean more questions

September 16, 2015
The first day of school can be a magical day. I still remember my first day and the “toe tag” attached to my shirt with my bus number on it: No. 29, I think. I remember being overwhelmed in a strange place, knowing only my siblings and the children who lived up the road. I don't think my experience was magical at all.
Making that first day of school count is important because it is so memorable, but also because it sets the tone for days to come. Successfully translating the nervousness of that first day into a positive and exciting day of learning experiences and creative play gives a child a sense of mastery and opens a world of opportunity. The innocent and expectant faces of kindergarten students rejuvenate us.
Recently, a friend forwarded me a New York Times article by Jamie Holmes entitled, “The Case for Teaching Ignorance.” While the title of the article doesn't inspire, its message is clear. Our educational culture is increasingly interested in measuring our knowledge as an end unto itself, rather than using what we learn as a springboard for exploring what we do not know. Holmes cited a case of a Columbia University neuroscientist who developed a class on scientific ignorance to ward against students feeling that a 1,400 page textbook might teach them everything they needed to know on a subject. In fact, neuroscience is a field that is just beginning to unfold; while amassing an impressive amount of data, scientists are just scratching the surface of the vast unknown of the human brain. For educators, this is one of the most exciting examples of where the known meets the unknown.
Children's imaginations are fertile and open to all sorts of parallel realities. Their natural curiosity is really an open mind to exploration, fantasy and new ways of thinking. Sadly, too many wonderful qualities in those new kindergarten students morph into preconceived ideas, self-consciousness or smug self-assurance by the time they reach adolescence. While some of these changes are inevitable, teaching should always be directed toward capturing and retaining that 5-year-old wonder of the world. Every bite of knowledge leads to another idea. Teaching children to ask questions, to voice their thoughts, to reflect and to imagine what's next keeps knowledge and learning out in front of them, as a journey.
Holmes included in his article a wonderful analogy drawn by social scientist Michael Smithson: The larger the island of knowledge grows, the longer the shoreline — where knowledge meets ignorance — extends. The more we know, the more we can ask. Learning facts and stuffing them in our pockets just weighs us down; throwing those facts in the air lifts us up with ideas and questions. Then a little bit of the magic of the first day of school will stay with us, always.
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