Curiosity

Within the last few months I have returned to a few books that I had previously read years ago by Sir Ken Robinson. One of these was The Element. The other is titled Creative Schools. More recently I listened to an audiobook by Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage. The emphasis in all of these texts comes around to some emphasis on the trait of curiosity.

Robinson makes the point that many schools today have evolved to the point of not appreciating curiosity. He cites that there is a curriculum to be delivered and there is no time or space for venturing off this delineated path. “Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not – because the thing they were good at in school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized” (Robinson). I think about my one granddaughter who just turned 6 in September. She is naturally curious. She asks a lot of questions and in play works through “what if” scenarios with toys and other everyday objects. We are all naturally curious like that, except for some that trait is diminished or extinguished.

We all want our children to be successful. We want our schools to prepare our children to be successful, but don’t we want them to continue to be curious? “Curiosity is the engine of achievement” (Robinson). We need to help students discover success by encouraging questioning. “Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be, or if they have any to speak of” (Robinson). We can counter this line of thought and action by knowing and encouraging the strengths in our children. We are data driven, but data reveals strengths, not just weaknesses. Let’s be student driven and not just data driven.

Shawn Achor is a Harvard researcher who has published The Happiness Advantage. His research reveals the benefits of curiosity toward happiness and success. His findings share that one of the keys to happiness is to exercise our innate sense of curiosity. This is pretty easy to understand. Do we want to always just follow scripts or do we want to pursue interests and passions?

Another recognized author and educator is Will Richardson. He has some interesting thoughts in regard to curiosity. Along with Achor and Robinson he acknowledges that “the most successful people moving forward will be the most curious. The ones who are constantly asking questions. The ones who are always wondering What if?” He poses an interesting question that I think is appropriate and enlightening for our students of today. Instead of asking “what do you want to be when you grow up,” the question should be, “what problem do you want to solve?”