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For your sixth post assignment, actively read and be ready to discuss in class “Schools are Killing Curiosity” from The Guardian and “Research Starts with a Thesis Statement” from Bad Ideas about Writing
Then, write a blog post of at least 400 words addressing the following questions;
What is something you were interested in when you were a kid? Are you still interested in that topic? How did asking questions help you learn more about that topic? If so, how has your curiosity changed and grown over the years? And what role did the educational system play in your curiosity (good or bad)?
If you are not interested in this topic anymore, what do you think happened to that interest? Do you remember the specific time you LOST interest? What did you become interested in instead (and why)?
Submit this at least two hours before class on Wednesday, 10/11!
Finally, when you have some time, think earnestly about a topic you are interested in, something you might want to know more about and focus on for your Unit 2 assignment.
This can be something heavy, like police brutality, or it can be something that seems on the surface more light-hearted, like ballet. The only criterion is that you are actually curious about it. This may seem like strange advice, but it can be helpful to go for a walk and think about topics you’d like to write about. Come home and jot down a few notes. You will soon be expected to have some idea of a topic you’d like to research, even if it’s a bit vague.
Growing up the things that interested me didn’t seem to interest the other kids. I was there by myself thinking about these complex yet understandable conspiracy theories. I used to love and still do love watching conspiracy theories and the facts that they come up with because they aren’t wrong just seen from a different point of view. I watched alot about the Pyramids Of Giza. what seemed to interest me the most is that they though the same way that I did. How are these big pyramids built so far back on time where they had none of the technological advancements that we did and it was done so precisely and carefully. I listened as they said that we cannot recreate this beautiful wonder and whatever or whoever created these back then must have been some advance civilization. Things didn’t make sense on how this under develop species of humans back then moved such heavy rocks thousands of feet in the air and with precision to align perfectly with the north star. The time, development, precision doesn’t add up and no one can explain how it happened one of the worlds greatest mysteries among others. This still interests me today because we still don’t have answers to any of it. The education system never went into depth about the pyramids and how they were created because they to do not know which grew my curiosity over the years.
Conspiracy theories and/or the pyramids would be really great topics of research for your unit 2 assignment!
Something that I was interested in as a kid was Demonology/Paranormal phenomena. My parents are really into horror movies that often deal with paranormal activity and when I was a kid, the concept of demons was always depicted in my grandma’s household through her religious decorations. These ideas were prevalent in my childhood, but I no longer revisit them unless the next decent horror flick comes out or someone reminds me of it. My questioning helped me learn more about the topic by helping me build a base off of which I would collect information either through the people around me or the religious writings or depictions. My questioning also helped me stay interested in the topic and be more engaged in my research. My curiosity peaked before I got to high school and has dropped off drastically since. The educational system played a bad role in my curiosity because it never explored a multitude of topics and there was never a point in time where dialogues could be had or even started except outside the classroom; places like the lunchroom and the hallways where curious kids can stretch out physically and mentally.
I think what happened to my interest was that I became satisfied with the answers I found from various sources and the overarching idea that negative emotion and experience were preludes to unexplainable phenomena that targeted individuals and places. The constant storyline of dishonorable and regrettable deaths leading to vengeful deeds and motives still continuing with the power of will from another world. It has never become explainable, and people are just left to turn away from these cases or try their best to erase them entirely out of distastefulness or fear. The time I lost interest I can remember was a moment where after exploring and binging various cases; I just paused to exhale and take a break and I was bored. The topic didn’t enthuse me anymore and I was tired of theories that have existed and yet to be proven that can be dated back centuries. Something I became interested in instead was piracy. It was less defined by unknowns and freer to explore and stay interested in. I thought to myself: how did these people live so freely and unperturbed by global judgment? When did the bravery strike their hearts that would lead them to leave their lives behind and defy the world? Piracy, along with its fictional depictions, was entertaining and actually could be connected to and interpreted by the people of this world after its time.
I am a big fan of horror movies, and as a child I was very interested in the paranormal, but I would often scare myself to death with the things I found on the internet.
This could be something to potentially research for unit 2!
As a child, I was always fascinated by Legos. Their unique design allowed me to exercise my creativity and build something new every time. I would follow the instructions to build new sets and then break them down to create something even more imaginative. However, my passion for Legos faded after third grade. Nowadays, I enjoy watching my sister build them and still look at them whenever I pass by the toy aisle at retail stores. As a child, I used to ask my older sister or cousin for help when the Lego building manual was unclear. As I grew older, my curiosity and creativity have definitely dwindled. As I grew older, my curiosity and creativity declined. I no longer ask for assistance as much, and my interest and creativity in different subjects have become stale. The education system has yet to play a role in my curiosity. My lack of curiosity is due to the education system not providing a more hands-on approach to specific subjects, which has caused my curiosity and creativity to become stagnant.
My interest in Legos died down when I got into video games. I started to stop building them as much and eventually just stopped tinkering with them completely. Though my interest in Legos still exists, I don’t have the time to indulge in it now due to my current lifestyle. During my elementary and middle school years, I was primarily interested in video games. I wasn’t much interested in physical toys. Everything that fascinated me was related to digital and online media. Interestingly, after my freshman year of high school, I also lost interest in video games. It was then that I discovered my interest in coding and computer systems. The inner workings of computers captivated me, and coding was the spark that ignited my curiosity. Writing programs to meet my expectations and getting them to work as intended led me to pursue a major in Computer Information Systems. In a way, both Legos and coding offer me a platform to express my creativity and curiosity through my work.
Coding is very creative! I wonder if you can do something coding-related for the unit 2 assignment?
I’ve always been very curious about motor engines in general, but specifically motorcycle engines because of my dad’s influence. Growing up, I have always been fascinated with life on two wheels even at an incredibly early age. At 5 I already had my own mini 50cc motorcycle (automatic). Back in the days, I would sit in the front seat next to my dad and I would listen to him teach me about traffic rules and how machines operated for hours and hours. At 12, my dad took me to a closed course to learn how to drive a stick car for the first time. That day, I felt that the connection I had to motor vehicles was more than getting from point A to B. During these car lessons, my dad would always mention the similarities between a motorcycle and a car, one of the quotes that stuck to my mind was “The first one down, the rest is up”, meaning, in order to engage first gear in a motorcycle, you had to blip down, and the rest of the gears blip up. One day, I was simply convinced that though I never rode an actual motorcycle, I was 100% capable of operating one. Throughout school, I considered many of my teachers really close friends and would talk to them about diverse topics I was curious about, one of them being motorcycles. After a while, I started noticing that every time I mentioned this topic, I would get a negative response back. As a kid who dreamed of experiencing all that freedom motorcycles supposedly offered us, the words that came out of these teachers’ mouths demotivated my desire to feel like you are flowing against the wind. Each day, I would get increasingly afraid of ever getting on top of a motorcycle since they taught me to connect it to crashes and deaths. Some may argue that these teachers could have saved my life by pushing me away from that dangerous hobby, however, instead of killing someone’s dream, they could have educated me not only on the risks they offer, but also how to reduce these risks and prevent them, and then let me evaluate if these moments were worth living or not. Hobbies were meant to be explored. Hobbies were meant to give meaning to our everyday existence. And after a while, I learned that as dangerous as something may be, every hobby deserves respect, and others are not entitled to decide how meaningful something is to you.
I really love the story you tell about you and your father. I agree that every hobby does deserve respect!
Growing up the idea of magic was always interesting to me. The ability to make something happen without a scientific explanation was just so cool. Movies like harry potter, the Never-ending story and labyrinth are what fueled this interest. After my first time watching harry potter i ran around my house with my dog reciting “magic spells” expecting something to happen and in my head it was. As a kid I had a very active imagination, I know that’s common but for me I was able to transform the world from being bland and mundane to magical and amazing, The older i get now I see we would just call that being delusional. Knowing magic isn’t real kind of made me lose my interest in it but it still made me explore it further. Meditation and manifestation could be seen as magic. manifestation is putting an idea or belief out into the universe so it can come true. This is very common, people often do it every morning by simply saying “Today will be a good day” This makes people think in a positive light therefore making them have a good day. I really lost interest around the time high school started because i guess it was time to grow up. I would still use manifestation everyday tryna to take advantage of whatever magic i could.
I was very interested in magic too, though I have not taken up manifestation.
I wonder if you can do something magic related for the unit 2 assignment?
When I was a kid I was interested in learning about God, I would often ask my mother and father about God because as a child I would feel like God does exist but I just didn’t understand it as much especially for a child as little as 5 years old. Throughout the years of growing up my questions of God would always fade away because I just didn’t feel like my questions were answered the way I wanted them to and I had nowhere else to turn. In my clueless mind all I could tell myself was that in order to go to heaven I would have to behave like a decent child and do nice things for both my parents and people. Moving into the present, I still am interested in learning about God now that I am old enough to know where to look and my questions and curiosity have grown stronger. I find this topic to be interesting because I know that I don’t have a lot of time and that being in this flesh is only temporary so being able to know how to get closer to God will not only lead me on the right path but I will also be saved from the lake of fire. I can learn so much about God and can look anywhere especially since I have the resources for it. When I was a kid all I could rely on were my parents to tell me all the information they had since they were Christian but all they would do is tell me the same things over and over which would serve me no use but now I am able to use my laptop to find meanings about God’s words or purchase a study bible or a bible off of amazon for me to read, I even have people on social media to reach out for any questions since I know that they are more experienced in what they do and are experts in it. On the other hand, the educational system did not play a part in my curiosity since I know that my questions were unrelated to any topic and since there were also no classes about religion at all. Even today I see no classes that have to do with religion nor does it get brought up and it seems to be something that no one wants to talk about. Nevertheless I was very strong on my curiosity and beliefs and didn’t want to give up. It would always stay in the back of my mind so I can find more information about it later, and throughout the years it has stuck with me and I will keep on going with it.
I am very happy this curiosity managed to stick with you through all these years even though you have not yet found the answers you are looking for.
This curiosity will serve you well!
My childhood home had these stunning paintings that forever captured my attention. As I grew up my fascination with art led me to pick up the brush turning it into a significant hobby. It turned into a big hobby and interest of mine. Questions in that field have rather disappeared nowadays. I was extremely curious when I was a lot younger, especially about things I liked working on. Asking questions about art only made me search more into the field and grew my eagerness. However, growing up a lot of those questions were shut down and didn’t matter much on the academic journey that I was part of. As a consequence, I began to believe that what I had an interest in would be unhelpful for my future and I slowly started giving up on that ambition. The education system helped at first when I was in my first grade but changed when we started to grow up. I think It began to teach us too seriously and just focused on the general things that we would need later on this academic voyage. That system took us on a cruise where our options seemed limited. If you wanted to follow hobbies you had to make it out of the school, by that I mean private courses and other opportunities. Nonetheless, most of our parents did not have the time and financial freedom for that. Therefore we only had one choice and that was to focus on school classes.
I was doing a lot of drawings in classes, out of classes and I also drew a painting for my school. Then after some weeks, a teacher asked if I could do the same painting for her. It turned out pretty good for both cases and I was really happy that my work was getting some appreciation. However, as previously mentioned, later on, a lot of questions couldn’t be answered because the art class was not advanced enough. The teachers did their best but as Matt Caldwell said “It’s not the fault of teachers. They have so many targets to meet.” I came to accept this reality and around the 6th grade, I realized that I had to make a choice of either giving more time to my classes or drawing. I had more pressure about my class grades from my parents thus I gave more time to my classes. Since I also enjoyed math a lot, that became a field that filled my curiosity.
I really enjoyed reading this story about your relationship to painting and art. It can be really frustrating to be in a school that ultimately is not able to support your passions (even if the teachers there really want to.
I hope you still paint!
When I was a kid basketball was an interest for me. I enjoyed watching the games on tv and in person. I even used to play with the boys at my school and the coach used to persuade me to join the team. However when I was in 6th grade, I fractured my left thumb playing when a boy hit the ball out of my hand while I was trying to make a shot. I was no longer interested in this topic, but every time I touched a basketball I always thought that I could get back into it. The basketball coach was the one who would answer any questions I had about basketball and this would make me interested in learning how to do certain moves and plays to become a female player. But my mom wasn’t at all going for me playing basketball anymore, especially since I’ve gotten hurt. And basketball wasn’t something that girls should have been playing. So from here my interest/curiosity has changed throughout the years being that I had to think realistically on what I could actually be when I grow up. I wanted to find my purpose and belonging on this earth. So my interest then became healthcare since I was also great at taking care of my grandmother at a young age. I became curious as to why people got sick, the different types of diseases, and what medications could treat those illnesses. The educational system allowed me to study in this field in high school so I already learned a lot about the topic of diseases. But now since I’m expanding my career, I want to learn more about the psychology behind the conscious and unconscious mind. Especially now since I’m taking a psychology class, I want to know stuff like where do we go when sleeping, why do people with mental illnesses act the way they do, and how do drugs affect the mental state of a person. Another part of me wants to understand more about teen suicide, drugs, gangs, etc. I want to learn more about the things that influence my age group, and what correlation this has to psychology. These topics are also trending and are always going to be seen throughout generations, so doing my own research on it could allow me to help not only myself but my peers and future generations.
You mention a lot of excellent topics that could be the focus of your unit 2 assignment. Focusing on psychology in relation to any of the things you mention–gangs, sleeping, teen suicide–would be really interesting.
Growing up, I was interested in computers and the way they worked. I started playing video games at a pretty young age, and it was a big part of my life. I think this early fascination with gaming led me to have questions about computers and how they functioned. This led to me wanting to know more about technology in general. I would spend countless hours in front of the computer screen, engulfed by the virtual world. This interest grew when I got to the 7th grade. I took my first computer class. In the class, we did basic things like learning how to type by muscle memory and other stuff but for our final assignment, we had to make our own game. We used this beginner website called Scratch and had to make a completely new game. Even though the game we made was simple and was not that good it made me more curious about technology and how game companies could make their games look so good. Asking questions helped me grasp some concepts but the more I asked the more I wanted to know. As I got older the interest in computers and technology did not fade. I am still fascinated by computers and the way they work. This curiosity led me to build my first computer and look more into the way it works. In my experience, I think the education system has helped me but I think it is mainly because of the teachers I have had in the past. They would go out of their way to show the class something interesting or answer questions we had.
I think it is great that you have had such consistently inspiring teachers!
And your long-term interest in and experience with computers is very impressive.
Growing up, I was interested in computers and the way they worked. I started playing video games at a pretty young age, and it was a big part of my life. I think this early fascination with gaming led me to have questions about computers and how they functioned. This led to me wanting to know more about technology in general. I would spend countless hours in front of the computer screen, engulfed by the virtual world. This interest grew when I got to the 7th grade. I took my first computer class. In the class, we did basic things like learning how to type by muscle memory and other stuff but for our final assignment, we had to make our own game. We used this beginner website called Scratch and had to make a completely new game. Even though the game we made was simple and was not that good it made me more curious about technology and how game companies could make their games look so good. Asking questions helped me grasp some concepts but the more I asked the more I wanted to know. As I got older the interest in computers and technology did not fade. I am still fascinated by computers and the way they work. This curiosity led me to build my first computer and look more into the way it works. In my experience, I think the education system has helped me but I think it is mainly because of the teachers I have had in the past. They would go out of their way to show the class something interesting or answer questions we had.
When I was a kid, I was extremely interested in space, especially black holes and how everything we’ve seen in space is from the past cause it takes time for the light to reach us. I am still interested in space to this day with the new discoveries NASA made with the James Webb telescope. When I first got interested in space, I was not really looking for information about it, I was just watching YouTube videos and came across a video about space and after that I started watching more. Even though I’ve lost some interest I haven’t lost all of it, it came back during my 11th grade year when I was taking an astronomy class, I learned more about stars and black holes and how things we see in space happened already because of how long light takes to travel to us. It helped me become more knowledgeable about space and it only piqued my interest more.
The unit 2 writing assignment is definitely a great time for you to rekindle your interest in astronomy!
All I can remember when I was a kid growing up with my neighbors, I always wanted and dreamed about being a professional fútbol player. Just making it to the big famous teams and having a recognized name. Playing futbol everyday and being very talented at it, I saw a future in that sport. But throughout time my dream slowly started to fade since I’ve moved away from my old house and leaving my neighbors. Practicing futbol was really difficult having no space nor parks to play at. I then found my way into playing a new sport where I also saw my talent. I was really talented in cycling where I’ve won over 15 local races. Asking questions in school about playing in a futbol team was no help because to qualify in a team you had to have some qualifications. They had their focus on helping and improving the kids who were already good at the sport instead of helping the less talented. It was really unfair in a way because they didn’t let you play even if you were wack at the sport. They also did not teach anything about the sport in classes and barely taught it in the gym so sports were not really a main focus in school but much rather outside of school. The educational system didn’t really play any role in my interest in playing futbol because I haven’t really looked for opportunities in school to take my futbol skills to another level but I also didn’t see any opportunities or chances to keep that dream alive. But the school did have a futbol team so I guess they did their part in that. I am definitely not interested in this topic of playing professional futbol because my parents really crushed my dreams in playing any professional sports and making it my career because they made me think that playing sports is more of a hobby rather than a career. They put into my head that i can’t make a living without having an educational degree such as college so now i have to dedicate my time, money and energy in school rather in what i really love which is now cycling. I remember I lost interest in futbol once I entered high school because at that time I stopped practicing and I started to focus on practicing my fitness level on the bike with my father and my uncles. That’s when I realized I had a different pathway and a new hobby I was really good at. I also had everything I needed to play that sport in my hands since my father was already in that sport. I had the bike, proper equipment, clothing, team and support.
That is impressive that you are biking today–really tough sport. It is good to hear that you were surrounded by people who could foster that interest.
As a kid, my elementary school’s music program sparked my interest in playing the guitar. Every day during the school year, we had one-hour classes that consisted of us playing either the flute, violin, or guitar. I always chose the guitar. Like most kids this age, I had the desire to be a rock star, this is because, throughout my father’s side hustle as a DJ, I had been exposed to many parties that at times included live bands. During these performances, I would always watch and listen to the guitarist. I always enjoyed the loud but carefully structured sounds of the guitar playing through the speakers. Whenever I picked up the guitar during elementary school music classes, I always felt like the guitarists I’d seen perform. During the classes, I had an excellent music teacher who had an impressive background in music as a conductor, and he was very knowledgeable with lots of instruments. So any advice or tips he would give me, I would trust. During the process of learning how to play the guitar, I would ask my teacher lots of questions, and he would always answer them in a way that I would understand. He would also give me a variety of custom music sheets tailored to what I needed to improve on. After elementary school was over, I went on to go to middle school. This meant that I had to move to a new school, and unfortunately, this school did not have any music programs or classes. This situation stopped me from playing the guitar or any instrument for that matter. That is, until recently, when I bought my own guitar and started to learn it again. I may have stopped playing after elementary school, but I still had an interest in music,Overall. I believe that the educational system was good for my curiosity because it opened up new doors that led me to pursue my interests, and additionally, my schools had really great teachers that really cared about their students because they would let us be curious and ask questions, which I am grateful for. In addition, I also had a great support system at home that let me further discover my interests. To say the least, we just need that one classroom, that one program, that will start or rekindle our inner childlike curiosity to let us pursue our passions and discover others as well.
It is really nice to hear that you picked up the guitar again. Depending on what you are thinking, you could definitely research something related to guitars for the unit 2 assignment.
Something that interested me as a kid was space or the universe. I would always look up at the sky and have so many questions to ask about it. I always wondered how space was made and how the planets formed. How were the stars made, why are there so many or why don’t we barely know about space. I do have many questions still to this day about space and I’m pretty sure other people do too. Asking questions helped me learn more about space, and some of the other questions I asked made my interest in the subject grow more. I think that’s one of the reasons why I love science because there are so many unsolved questions that are yet to be solved. My curiosity did grow more because some questions I have today are still no answered because no one has figured out how space works. Since I was a child till now I had a few changes like the ocean.they are similar but yet so different because of the conditions and places of both. But I’ve been interested in the ocean as well because no one knows what’s under there as well. It hasn’t been discovered fully either and I have so many questions about it that haven’t been solved yet. I like how there are conspiracy theories for both and people have their opinions on both topics.
The unit 2 assignment is a great opportunity to learn more about space!
Something I was interested in growing up and still am interested in is racism and the integration in America. Asking questions and gaining knowledge from both school and outside resources, helped me realize that in American history we repeatedly see the re-establishment of white dominance and the matter of fact ways in which black people in America got their rights. Most of the times we see in American history that laws being passed are not out of the willingness of the government and wrongness of their doings. But the mere fact that they are forced to pass these laws. When we look back towards the end of slavery, the only reason it was abolished was because African Americans were revolting nationwide which led to civil war between the north and the south. Out of the north’s victory slavery was abolished. Even with slavery being abolished ex confederate states created laws that prevented newly freed slaves from practicing their rights. This eventually bled into the Reconstruction era that was supposed to end these laws. But once again White dominance powered using terrorism to maintain the ‘status quo’ between blacks and whites. Seeing all of this play out in history made me wonder how integration was able to happen. But I realized that this is the Domino effect. Integration in America only happened because there was an uproar nationwide across African Americans who had enough of this unconstitutional oppression. And until this day America has never acknowledged the fact that a lot of their wrong doings to black people were unconstitutional. They would rather brush it off and give people what they want.
Something I was interested in when I was a kid was cooking, I would always help my mom cook dinner by helping her cut the vegetables and I would always find the cooking shows like chopped or the baking competitions interesting. After covid I lost interest in the topic because I was going to a culinary school learning how to cook but when covid started I stopped cooking and lost the passion. Asking questions helped me learn more about the culinary world because there’s was so much to it that I didn’t know so asking my chefs questions helped my understanding and taught me multiple things. My curiosity has grown over the years because now I actually know what I’m doing in the kitchen and I have culinary knowledge on what I’m making, how it’s prepared, and etc. My curiosity changed over the years because after I gained the knowledge and applied it in school, once school ended, I lost my interest in cooking because I wasn’t cooking as much during the pandemic and made me gain the interest of entrepreneurship and marketing. The educational system actually helped with my curiosity because when I went to culinary school, I didn’t know so much about cooking but after going and learning from the chefs I gained more knowledge on my curiosity. After working a culinary job my interest was more focused on the money part then the culinary aspect, so I started becoming more interested in entrepreneurship and marketing. I began losing interest in cooking and started gaining knowledge on marketing sales, I don’t remember the specific time I lost interest in cooking, but it was like around my senior year in high school.
As a kid, I loved dinosaurs. I got dinosaur legos, toys, watched the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, and watched dinosaur content on Youtube. Although I like dinosaurs now, I wasn’t like this all my life. There was a time where I didn’t care as much about dinosaurs that much and it was mostly because I had developed other interests. It wasn’t until a few months ago that my passion and interest in dinosaurs was sparked again through a dinosaur video game. Path of Titans is an online survival game where you grow a baby dinosaur of your choice into an adult by completing tasks to boost your growth and letting time pass to grow naturally. Normally there aren’t any rules on how to play and interact with others so I play on a community server that enforces rules. Playing on this server taught me more about dinosaurs than school did. I wouldn’t say that the education system played a role in my interest. School never taught me about dinosaurs, I only remember one year where we had fossils and dinosaurs as a topic. Aside from actually learning about them, I went on a ton of trips to the Museum of Natural History. There we would almost always go through the fossils exhibit where I would always look at all the bones and skeletal structures of prehistoric creatures. If I ever did any work regarding dinosaurs it is because I specifically chose it as a topic. Asking questions led me to doing more research on dinosaurs, I would learn a lot about them through my own personal research because school never made me do work on topics regarding dinosaurs. I kind of had to wait for more research to be done because there was nothing new to learn about them, I knew everything I needed and wanted to know about them. I’ve heard of new research developments being made about the tyrannosaurus rex which is what I am mainly focusing on. The T. rex has always been my number one favorite dinosaur. I don’t care that it’s basic or that it’s the dinosaur everyone knows, deep down the T. Rex will be number one in my heart. I don’t know why every other dinosaur nerd hates it. I’m starting to run out of things to talk about in order to make this reach the four hundred word count. That’s about it.