Children and Learning

Q: Do children begin life with a natural desire to learn, or is a desire to learn imposed on them from parents or other external influences?

If you've been around young children, you probably know that they indeed desire to learn. Children have a tendency to ask an unbelievable number of questions about a wide range of subjects. They seem to have a “built in” curiosity when it comes to the “what,” “why,” and “how” of things, and it is this curiosity which we refer to as their desire to learn. But why do children have a desire to learn in the first place? Is it because they want to be annoying? Is it because they learn it from adults? Or is such behavior evidence of something natural?

First, do children desire to learn because they want to be annoying? Probably not. However, it's worth mentioning that, in certain circumstances, with certain people, children may very well display a kind of obnoxious curiosity—just to be annoying. For instance, if you happen to be a rather up-tight person, and respond adversely to such pestering, you may very well find yourself inundated with a group of youthful disciples, gathering around, as it were, just to watch your emotional intelligence (or lack thereof) on display. But as humorous as this may be to contemplate, it doesn't really help us answer the main question.

Next, is a child's “desire to learn,” a learned behavior? It doesn't seem like it is. After all, do a majority of adults sit around all day asking each other random questions about random subjects? Do children sit at the dinner table, quietly observing mom and dad discussing why the sky is blue or where babies come from? If anything, it seems like the seemingly “odd” behavior of adults would stimulate a child's desire to learn, rather than teach a child to desire to learn. Moreover, this question seems to contradict itself. If a child does not naturally posses a desire to learn, then how can they learn how to learn? In other words, if a “desire to learn” were imposed on a child from external influences (parental or otherwise), a child would still have to “learn” to “desire to learn.” And if a child must “learn” to “desire-to-learn,” then it seems no child could, in principle, learn anything. In short, learning itself seems to presuppose a desire to learn, and though external influences no doubt affect us, it seems they cannot be wholly responsible for our desire to learn.

This leads us to our final consideration: do children have a natural desire to learn? In other words, is childlike curiosity “built in” to our existence as human beings? It seems that it is. As previously mentioned, if a desire to learn is not "built in" to human existence, it would be unclear how children—or any human—could learn anything to begin with. Yet, human beings, including children, do learn things. In Book I of Metaphysics, Aristotle tells us that “all men by nature desire to know.” The proposition “all men” would seem to include children. And knowledge itself, which is acquired through the human “desire to know,” is attained through a process of learning. Hence, to further justify our conclusion, we can easily reformulate Aristotle's statement as “all children by nature desire to learn.”

How I Started Reading

I didn't read books when I was growing up. I could have, but didn't. If you've ever met someone who managed to graduate high school without reading a single book—that was me. I saw reading books as a useless activity. “Why would anyone read a book when there are like millions of better things to do?” “Why sit and read when you can go out and do something?” Such was my thought process at the time.

It wasn't until one month before my 20^th birthday that I completed my first book. It was Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People. I remember hearing the title of the book for the first time. “How to what?” “Pffff! “Please—I don't need to 'win friends'—what does that even mean?” I was definitely a skeptic. But I had just heard a speech by a wealthy businessman who promoted the book, saying that it had helped him tremendously, and that anyone who wanted to be successful should read it. “Well jiminy crickets!” “I want to be successful!” Needless to say, I ended up buying a copy.

Despite the fact that it was first published in 1936, I found the book unbelievably interesting. I even noticed that I didn't need to force myself to sit down and read it. This was probably my first experience wanting to read something, and it was pretty weird. I didn't get very far, however, before I realized that almost everything Dale Carnegie said not to do—I was doing. It slowly began to dawn on me that when it came to dealing with people, I was a total jerk. I was blown away. I didn't know I was a jerk, I didn't want to be a jerk. And here all this time I had thought I was perfect!

As a result I quickly adopted many of the suggestions from the book. To my amazement, they actually worked! My ability to have conversations with people dramatically improved (I stopped starting arguments), it was like I could suddenly “get along” with almost anyone. Tense situations in the workplace seemingly vanished. It felt like I had learned a ton, and when I changed, it seemed like so many things around me changed as well. “Wow” I thought. “There might actually be a benefit to reading books!”

No sooner had I completed my first book than I was out buying more. Each book I read seemed to lead to more books. For the first time in my life I was excited and thrilled at the prospect of learning something. By the time my 21^st birthday rolled around a year later I had read more than 60 books. Not long after I started buying bookshelves.

A little over a year had gone by and my paradigm of reading and learning had turned upside down. I remember getting phone calls from friends asking what I was doing and if I wanted to go out and do something. When I told them that I was reading they acted like I wasn't doing anything, so obviously I was free to go out! Sometimes I did go out, but I often found myself thinking that I could have been back home doing something useful. I had become the exact person that, only a few years before, I would have viewed with disdain. And to add to the irony of the situation, one day my mom barged into my room while I was reading and exclaimed: “all you do is read, why don't you go out and do something useful!”

Ken Robinson on Education

I first saw this video sometime toward the end of 2006. It made a great impression on me. It affected my views regarding the purpose of education and helped shape my approach to teaching. If you have a moment, it's well worth the time.

The Engine of Your Life

If you were to identify the most important thing associated with your existence—what would it be? It seems it would have to be something that you could-not-possibly-function without. Someone special, a spouse or close friend may come to mind, a person that you may believe you “couldn't live without.” But to be sure, you could live without this person. It may not be easy, but your existence is not dependent on theirs. So it seems that a person, irrespective how important they may be to you, cannot in principle be the-most-important-thing-associated-with-your-existence.

Given a little time for reflection and introspection, most people will identify some variation of their mind as the most important thing associated with their existence. If you think about it, everything you have ever done or could possibly do, is inextricably dependent on the existence of your mind. One may object and say that the mind is equally dependent on the existence of the body, and that without a strong healthy body, a person cannot function properly. But it seems that the mind would still take precedence over the body. A person suffering from heart disease, for instance, can still exercise the power of their mind. They can make decisions, communicate, process information, express joy or sorrow. But a person without a mind cannot do this, even if their body is in perfect health. Naturally a vibrant healthy body is to be preferred over one which is failing, and though a healthy body serves to reinforce the mind, the mind doesn't seem to be dependent on the body in the same way that other things (such as intentionality) depend on it for existence.

Consider the analogy that the mind is the engine in a car. Everything a car is capable of doing is clearly dependent on the engine. Yes we can turn on the radio or the headlights without starting it, but by doing so the battery will be drained. It is the engine that (while running) keeps the battery charged. Yes we can put a car in neutral and drive it down a hill, but without an engine to further propel the car, it will eventually slow down and stop. The engine itself, however, requires other things, such as clean fuel and lubrication (oil), in order to run properly and effectively. It seems the same can be said of our mind.

As mentioned, everything we have ever done or could possibly do is inextricably dependent on the existence of our mind. But what does the mind itself require to “run” properly and effectively? Information. It is information that appears to be the “language” or “fuel” of the mind. Information provides the mind with the “raw materials” needed to think, to reason, to learn and develop. Without information, your mind has nothing to “work with,” so to speak. But just as dirty fuel or oil will cause the engine of a car to run poorly, a consistent diet of valueless information will cause your mind to lose capacity and adroitness. If a person ceases to learn, for instance, their mind will consume nothing but the information it contacts in daily life. And though some of this information may be of value, the majority of it is certainly not. Unless a person is actively committed to the consistent learning of something, their ability to reason and think will slowly be undermined.

Instead of watching that movie or TV show that you've seen a thousand times, find a topic of interest and begin exploring it. Rather than reading yet another fiction book, pick up something nonfiction. The things that comprise our world can be far more exhilarating than mere pop entertainment. Find a hobby, develop a skill, read, learn, grow—do something! But whatever you do, don't be content with merely being entertained. A byproduct of constant entertainment is boredom and boredom often leads to a loss of initiative and eventually depression. If your mind is your greatest asset, shouldn't you put something useful in it?