No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don't ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives. ---Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I wonder how different my life might have turned out if, from the first days of elementary school through the end of high school, at least one teacher had shown the patience, attention, and respect toward me, an individual student, that their profession calls from them and about which their union likes to boast on television ads. Eventually, I did begin to encounter good teachers, but only after I had entered college...my freshman year chemistry teacher exemplified the above quote from renowned astrophysicist and popularizer of science Neil deGrasse Tyson, a man who I'm sure would be an excellent teacher, regardless of the grade level. Mr. Hill was slow, methodical, and careful, taking great pains to try to elicit questions from the students in his classes...his mantra was that the only dumb question is the one not asked. But Neil's quote has a much broader application than a formal education setting: being curious and seeking answers flies in the face of the tendency of our popular culture...
No one wants to be seen as an ignoramus...after all, that would be a sign of "weakness" and if there is one overriding theme to how people are expected to behave, it is that they must show to others that they are strong. Just look at all the sit-coms on television, where the "dummy" character is the one who asks questions...and by this supposedly reveals his or her utter stupidity to the roar of the laugh track. And as far as curiosity about the world around us being an obstacle to relationships, there are those people out there who amazingly have no concept as to what being curious means...they tend to define everything up front in uncompromising black & white, good & bad terms and if anything, regard folks regularly showing general interest and curiosity in what's going on around them as being wasteful and selfish...after all, they could be doing something more "useful" instead...
I am currently reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's latest book, titled Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. It doesn't contain complicated mathematical equations, and it neither babies the reader by overgeneralizing the concepts expressed within it nor does it unduly tax one's mind. For the generally curious soul, I recommend this book...but if you think you've already got everything figured out, why bother learning anything new?
No comments:
Post a Comment