Curiosity Survives Formal Education

7/30/2019 Curiosity Survives Formal Education

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2. Its a miracle that curiosity survives formal education

(Albert Einstein). Discuss.

Curiosity is a quality we are born with. It compels us to engage

with the world around us; to ask questions, to search for

answers, to communicate and to connect. This natural

inquisitiveness imbues us with a constant appetite for knowledge,

and it is with education that we can begin to satiate this

desire.

In my opinion, it is no miracle that curiosity survives formal

education today. In fact, I would argue that formal education

promotes and propels curiosity, cultivating in students a rich

awareness of the possibilities which come with knowledge. In my

personal experience, I have found formal education stimulating

and inspiring, acting like a catalyst for learning, and inciting

me to seek answers. Education has nurtured my sense of curiosity,

and inspired it to grow, rather than see the death of it.

In Professor Einsteins day, those finding themselves struggling

in flawed systems of education were less fortunate. Amidst a

backdrop of World War II, Nazism in Germany, the Depression in

America, and general early twentieth century austerity, it is

hardly surprising that Einstein saw education as the crippling

of individuals. In a speech on Education and Socialism, given by

Einstein in the 1930s, he claims that through formal education


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an exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the

student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a

preparation for his future career1. Einstein was vehemently

against imposing authoritative discipline on students, and rather

believed in the importance of teaching students how to think for

themselves. He maintained that in the climate of the 1930s formal

education system, students were taught how to answer questions

rather than how to ask them. It seems clear to me that educating

to such ends would rob even the most knowledge-hungry student of

his or her curiosity. But luckily for us, times have changed, and

education has evolved radically.

In Ireland today, education is based around the needs of people,

rather than in adherence to a strict regime. It comes in a

variety of guises, and formal education tends to mould itself

into the requirements of individuals, rather than existing as one

dictatorial unit. Contemporary formal education comes in the

shape of Universities, Schools and Colleges, but also through a

network of night classes, day courses, and even distance learning

arrangements. Formal education is accessible and integral, and

built around the needs of those who wish to engage with it.

Formal education actively seeks to broaden horizons and develop

opportunities for people. Through what is taught inside the

classroom, and through the management of the organizational

structures surrounding formal education, we are lucky to have a

1 Albert Einstein, Speech on Education and Socialism, 1930


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system in place which succeeds in feeding curiosity, rather than

quelling it.

There are many types of learning and knowledge. There is

knowledge as objective fact, knowledge based in subjective

experience, procedural knowledge, constructed knowledge,

cognitive, spatial and creative knowledge, the list is endless.

What is remarkable about the education system today is that each

different level or mode of knowledge is recognized and

acknowledged. The system seems open to investigating change, to

new experimental ideas and innovative endeavors. Much has

changed since the 1930s, and advances in approaches to techniques

of formal education have progressed beyond recognition.

Think of a bean sprout. This bean sprout can be explained to a

curious child in a variety of ways. One approach may be to

photograph the sprout, and sit the child in front of this image,

instructing him or her to learn off the technical words for every

part of that seed and plant. The child will undoubtedly grow

bored and frustrated, and understand little of what he or she is

rote learning. In an alternative method, (a method more akin to

those widely used in todays more evolved system of education),

the child may be given a seed, and taught to sow it. The child

can then learn about the plant by actively watching it sprout and

grow. This is an excellent way of imparting knowledge as the

childs curiosity is fostered in a way that leads towards


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learning, and the childs knowledge is allowed to grow alongside

the little sprout. This is one of the ways in which a good

educational system can work: by finding means of imparting wisdom

through inspiring our inquisitive nature, rather than providing

us with second hand facts and figures, the course to which we

have not understood.

Education today is as much about culture, understanding,

awareness and questioning as it is about formal facts and

figures. Despite flaws within the current structure of post-

primary assessment (such as the notorious and often criticized

points system), the wider scale of formal education in Ireland

offers a very broad curriculum which caters for a growing number

of demands among the population. New and innovative modes of

teaching excel in stimulating and cultivating peoples curiosity,

fuelling their imaginations, and encouraging learning on many

levels.

It was W. B. Yeats who once said Education is not filling a

bucket, but lighting a fire. If formal education is the flame,

then curiosity is the fuel. For me, the two go hand in hand. I

hope never to lose my sense of curiosity. It serves me like a

compass, directing me down all sorts of routes. I admit that it

is brave to disagree with Einstein, but in this case I feel I

must. Indeed, if Einstein were alive today, he may even disagree

with himself.


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Curiosity Survives Formal Education