Professor Joshua Belknap | ENG 1101 ML D105 | Fall 2022

10/16/22 Schools are Killing Curiosity

Please read and write a short (1-2 paragraph) response to the ideas presented in the Guardian article linked here: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/28/schools-killing-curiosity-learn … Write your response in the comment section below. Also, reply to at least two (2) of your class mate’s posted comments. Let me know if you have any questions.

8 Comments

  1. Gulmira Tolibova

    In the article School kills Curiosity it states that children are not develop yet mentally and physically that’s why they are full of questions about everything around them. Researchers investigated level of curiosity in about six thousand kids which are babies, toddlers, preschoolers and first graders. According to the research they did it shows that curious kids with questions are more likely to have better academic performance. Children are born curious says one of the researcher and the number of question they ask are may seem infinite but once they start school they all give up and their curiosity level is dropped. Once they start school they need to shut themselves completely and focus on school and studies.

    My opinion about this article is that it’s not teachers fault they are doing their job but it’s the system that had been build over the time that now everyone has to follow up. It should make more creative people if we don’t force all the pressure to the kids from their young age but slowly follow up and let them embrace themselves. they can ask as many questions as they want and look for answers and kids are not as smart as adult but the question they ask can sometimes challenge and question adults too. Sometimes adults get frustrated from seems like endless question kids may ask and say something like “why you ask so many question” or “shut up and follow up with it” this can kill the curiosity in kids too so from the reading and my experience I will say that adult should be more patient with their kids and school system should be not all about numbers and books but more like a what books would kids be interested in reading for the next term and teacher can make their tasks based on that. Just my opinion but it will takes years of work to change the system that has been going on from a very long time. But it’s the little effort everyone make that counts.

    • JiaBaoLiang

      I like the part of ” It should make more creative people if we don’t force all the pressure to the kids from their young age but slowly follow up and let them embrace themselves. ” because sometime adults should not push Children too hard

  2. JiaBaoLiang

    The article “Schools are killing curiosity” states that Children have a lot of questions to ask, and teachers in school should not stop them. It’s because Children who ask questions are more likely to become successful people.

    My opinion of this article is that I think some time teachers stop Children’s asking is reasonable, it’s because kids get into a mood easily that aksing meaningless or stupid question on purpose. When adults answered a certain number of questions from a kid, the kid starts asking meaningless questions which sometimes they already know the answer to, they just want to beat you. For example, my nephew, a troublesome kid, once asked me why his mother always told him to drink water. I said it’s because drinking water has a lot of benefits. He continued to ask what benefits, I said one of the benefits is water brings harmful and useless substances out of your body. He asked what harmful substances were, and I said it’s the thing that makes you sick and hurt. Then my nephew got into a troublesome mood, I thought he may want to know “what else water can do” or “how harmful substances cause damage”. However, he said to me “what if I just want to keep those harmful things”, I repeated it will make you sick, he continued and said “what if I just want to do that”. I didn’t answer him this time, I just went back to my room and played video games.

  3. Junxuan Shao

    In the article “Schools are killing curiosity”, the author tells that many young children in modern society have lost their curiosity in school study. Productivity depends on innovation, and innovation stems from intense curiosity: Is there a better, cheaper, faster way to do this? There are many problems in education at this stage, some of which we are unable to change. But some of which we as teachers can master, such as the cultivation of students’ curiosity. Curiosity is a psychological and behavioral activity of orientation, gaze, approach and exploration caused by novel stimuli. It is one of the strongest motives of human behavior. Curiosity is the most intense phase is the elementary school stage. Out of school, many students’s curiosity has been released, they would like to ask why. It is good for discovering. But they began to ask less whys since they’ve been grown up. This is not only the changes of the relationship by growing up, but also the surrounding environment to curb their curiosity, including school education. Nowadays, parents and teachers care more about the level of students’ academic performance, and set the good scores as the definition of good students. But, some great people such as Edison, Gorky, Bill Gates they did not have a high degree, the grades are not outstanding, but they became a generation of great men by keeping their virtue of strong curiosity. But now our students’ curiosity has been killed in the cradle, students become only learning tools, lost their curiosity about the things around them. Therefore, education is not only for the achievement, but also for the better development of students. Therefore, let us strive to cultivate and maintain the curiosity of students, so that they can be free to shine in the future life and study.

  4. Destiny Erhunmwunse

    In the article “school kill curiosity” I found out that children are born curious this is because they have a lot of questions about what is going on around them, and also use the questions being asked to improve their knowledge cause it was stated that young toddlers who ask the question are most likely to improve in their grades and their academic life.

    This can also be seen in adults because when we ask a lot of questions we will be able to know and understand what we are having issues with. So toddlers are no different and with this, I think it is important that children and toddlers should always ask questions even though the question being asked is going to be a challenge to answer, however, teachers and parents should also know that toddlers and children asking question grow and learn during the process of asking questions. Lastly, it also states in the article that “What children love is to copy what adults are doing with objects. What people and objects do makes them curious about their world.” This also shows us that toddlers behave and act based on what they see and ask questions about what they experience which makes them more curious to ask a lot of questions.

  5. JiaBaoLiang

    I agree the part that said: “This also shows us that toddlers behave and act based on what they see and ask questions about what they experience which makes them more curious to ask a lot of questions.” Children ask question a lot just because their knowledge is minimal, that why they constantly exposed to things they don’t know

  6. Tehreem

    I agree with the author at some point because I have experienced some of these environments in school and some teachers who on the first day say if you have any questions feel free but then if asked them questions, they feel irritated. These types are teachers are really killing curiosity in students. I remember in school only one student in my class always asked questions and the teacher was fed-up with her. In Pakistan, the education system needs us to write what is written in the textbook exactly word by word. They do not want us to write the concept, so I think the teacher does not care if we are curious about anything are not all want to cram. 

  7. Fuyi

    Children are curious by nature and what is the point of going to school if their teachers don’t answer their questions? In school, most of the time teachers are very helpful because they will say that people should not be afraid to ask questions and only if they are asked wrong will they know where they are wrong and how they should correct it. Many modern people think that the outside world is dangerous and they have to protect their children in a warm cradle, but in fact it is not what people think, children have to learn to be independent one day and if they keep curbing their curiosity, they will know nothing about the world

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