I have merged these two seemingly unrelated topic because I see a
common thread. The question is whether we exchange with an exclamation
point or a question mark? I may be wrong, but it seems to me, on at least
these two seminal issues, so many of us are committed more to the answer
than to the question. It is like that professor in the Zen story whose
cup of tea is so full that it cannot make room for more. Whatever the
question, we so often are inclined to focus on the answer, the answer that
reinforces whatever it is we are already doing or believing, be it
religion or grading or whatever. We so often counter an exclamation mark
with a counter exclamation mark. This is curious since it runs counter to
the basic investigative curiosity that is the very essence of our
disciplines: question, research, experiment; question, research,
experiment; question, research, experiment. It seems to me that the
essence of being educated is pennially have the courage to question the
answers, not answer the questions--especially our own.
It has been my experience, if I am right, that defense of the
answer, keeps us from the much more valuable practice of discovering what
is possible, of uncovering the options, of being open and curious, of
offering a continuing flow of insights, of arriving at more profound
understandings.
So many of us say that we don't have the answers, and yet we stand
pat as is the case with these issues of religion or a grading system matter. It
seems to me that when we declare ourselves to be novices, when we ask,
"what's going on," when we are curious, we create room to investigate all
sorts of possibilities and consequences. I have found that it is far more
exciting, fulfilling, and productive to generate possibilities than rush
to embrace answers.
When, however, we clutch the answer firmly to our chest, so often
that embrace shuts off any further exploration of the question and we
incarcerate ourselves in our own answer.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
229-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
/ \__/ \/ / /\ /~\/ \
/\/\-/ /^\_____\____________/__/_______/^\
-_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\
_ _ / don't practice on mole hills" - \____
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