Questions
Sitting in the office designing solutions, fixing problems, it made me wonder.
Right from kindergarten, why is that we are taught and asked to come up with answers? Why is that we are not taught and asked to come up with questions? Infact, if anything, we are discouraged from questioning authority. Questioning what the teacher says. What the text book says. And my favourite - assumptions. Assumptions are the foundation of any solution and questioning it is shaking its very bottom. But most of the time, based on the available knowledge and given assumptions, we proceed to the solution. We are all well trained in that - finding solutions and answers given the required information. What we are not taught or asked to do - question that information, assumption. Don't we have to verify if the starting point is correct? If our premise will not lead to the demise of our solutions?
As a toddler, with minimal knowledge, we question everything. 'Why' becomes the most dreaded word to our parents. They run out of options and answers and invoke authority. The teacher in school does not have the time or the inclination to field questions. Forget about encouraging the kids to ask more.
Where does this all lead to? Denizens who are great at fixing but who fail miserably in questioning why the hell did the problem occur in the first place and why the hell am I fixing this? I understand. Asking questions raises bp in other people. Fixing problems make others happy and gives you an adrenaline rush. So people are content solving. People who are supposed to question everything - journalist - have failed miserably. They too have stopped questioning and just listen to prepared statements.
Right from kindergarten, why is that we are taught and asked to come up with answers? Why is that we are not taught and asked to come up with questions? Infact, if anything, we are discouraged from questioning authority. Questioning what the teacher says. What the text book says. And my favourite - assumptions. Assumptions are the foundation of any solution and questioning it is shaking its very bottom. But most of the time, based on the available knowledge and given assumptions, we proceed to the solution. We are all well trained in that - finding solutions and answers given the required information. What we are not taught or asked to do - question that information, assumption. Don't we have to verify if the starting point is correct? If our premise will not lead to the demise of our solutions?
As a toddler, with minimal knowledge, we question everything. 'Why' becomes the most dreaded word to our parents. They run out of options and answers and invoke authority. The teacher in school does not have the time or the inclination to field questions. Forget about encouraging the kids to ask more.
Where does this all lead to? Denizens who are great at fixing but who fail miserably in questioning why the hell did the problem occur in the first place and why the hell am I fixing this? I understand. Asking questions raises bp in other people. Fixing problems make others happy and gives you an adrenaline rush. So people are content solving. People who are supposed to question everything - journalist - have failed miserably. They too have stopped questioning and just listen to prepared statements.
posted by d'na | 4:38 PM
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