How many questions should you ask? I was just reading an
article that questions the number of questions that are being asked today by
students in school. Read on: Asking
questions is essential to learning. That was an essential lesson from one of
history's first great teachers, Socrates. Or, as the wise Rabbi Steven
Greenberg puts it: "we train children at the Passover seder to ask why,
because tyrants are undone and liberty is won with a good question." And yet,
children are not asking questions nearly enough. In fact, data from the U.S.
school systems tells us that the average high school student asks one question
of substance per month in a classroom. Yikes!
This is particularly
alarming if we consider the skill set that is required for success in the
coming decades. Hal Gregersen, the co-author along with Clayton Christensen of
the recent book The Innovator’s DNA, tells Big Think that the world we’re
entering over "the next five, ten, fifteen, twenty years – I can’t imagine
it being easier, simpler, less uncertain than what we’re living in today."So
what is the best way to "unlock the solutions to that wild terrain,"
as Gregersen puts it? "We need to build this capacity in ourselves and the
people around us to ask the right question." Source: http://bigthink.com/big-think-tv/the-future-is-uncertain-its-time-to-start-asking-the-right-questions
Yes you need to ask questions. Tons of questions. I always
had questions on my mind and in classrooms I was known to be the irritating
one. Actually – few teachers loved me and a few them possibly didn’t. some
thought I was asking questions just to prove I was smart or I was disturbing
the class. I remember one question that was completely dismissed by my science
teacher. She was taking I think about chlorine or flourine (nice periodic table
link http://www.ptable.com/)which is so
reactive that it reacts with anything and that she said it is used on rockets
as fuel. I may be wrong in recollecting the gas but my question was that if it’s
so reactive and reacts with everything then how do you store it? Oops. That one
was dismissed. In another science class the idiotic teacher called me to the
desk twice or more since I was participating ‘too much’ in class. She called me
in and tried to tell me that if I know too much I should take the lecture
myself. What a Bitch. I want to meet her and show her this video.
Ask questions ask many questions. Ask them all the time. Keep
asking. I think I am losing the art of asking those questions which I used to
as a child. In my meetings I ask, and I don’t really mind admitting that I don’t
know too much; but higher level meetings work without asking questions. People don’t
want to show any of their insufficiencies I guess. I don’t know. I keep telling
people – ask – ask more questions. Think a bit. But idiots just don’t. My own
team just doesn’t want to ask any questions. Is it because they don’t think
enough or they can understand enough or is it because they feel shy or what? Are
you too dumb to ask or you are too smart? Why is it that I am the one asking
most of the questions.
I think the author on top is right. In school with the
grades etc – you are taught to simply learn the portion by rote. That is what
gets rewarded, not asking questions. That is irrelevant for grades or for
anything. In my class when I teach I try and encourage people to think or ask
questions; but its so bloody tough. Years of training can’t be simply undone by
one stupid professor.
The other day Jispa was really upset and there was something
bothering her. She was having a fight with us. I have a different style of
fighting with her. I talk to her and then I continue to keep channels of
communication open. I am firm on the issue but soft on everything else. So I asked
her what was bothering her. She refused to say. Then I told her that whatever
it is, she has the freedom to tell me anytime. I am there for her. And then
offhand I asked her – “take a guess – how many time in Jasmine’s life has she
had a conversation with her dad. A nice conversation”. She looked at Jasmine.
The answer is never. Jasmine has never ever had a ‘conversation’ with her dad. They
speak but there is no conversation. I told her that I remember a few
conversations with my dad and those I cherish. “So how many have you had with
your dad” I asked her. “Hundreds”, she replied. “So then” I said “you have something
your both parents didn’t. You can always talk to us”.
Well at the end of it all. She still dint tell us what was
bothering her. Well… Ten years olds are also equally complicated. But I respect
that and she sorted the issue in her brain, or at least I hope so.
