I think James Baldwin was trying to say that we should never be bounded in terms of information. Information is never ending and so should our learning process be. Knowledge is not limited to any certain place, be it, school, home, work place, etc. By saying, “the world is larger” James Baldwin means that there is much more to explore and know outside of a classroom. The world is much more than we think it is, bigger, adventurous, beautiful and we have the right to and must investigate about it.
I think that The Guardian article is correct. We should respect everyone’s learning process. Not everyone is the same and neither their pace or opinion/thought about something. What is good for one, might not be good for the other or might be good for others too but would not have the same outcome if one’s approach is different. The answer that a student or even a person receives to his/her question shape their way of thinking. One’s opinions, judgments, and thoughts are based upon the type of answers others give and the way they explain it to the question arising in their head. I don’t really remember if I have killed my curiosity about something if I didn’t received answers, but there were times when I was told by the teachers that they will explain something later. Curiosity relates to what Baldwin is asking us to do in such a way that if we don’t have curiosity to learn and explore about something then we wouldn’t progress and grow. We should not be holding back upon ourselves and restrict us to certain information or knowledge.
My experience with the digital world has been quite good. If I am curious to know about something, the first thing I do is to search it up on the internet and then ask questions if I still have any to the people around me. What got me curious is the system itself. I wondered and still wonder how the devices are getting so small and thin day by day, yet has the capacity to store so much information. I am curious to know how it all works that we are able to share pictures, talk to people across the globe, see what the person is doing at the same time as ours through a video call and even how we are able to conduct online classes today. We should start researching with questions rather than answers because question are the one which seek and frames the answers and most importantly because answers are to be reformed or remade overtime as we progress to the future.
Really thoughtful answers, Ria. Your second paragraph is very interesting — questions and answers do indeed shape the way we see ourselves and the world, and you’re right that everyone learns in very different ways. I do wonder, however, how many students, when they hear a teacher say “later,” actually lose interest by the time “later” rolls around. No blame mean by that; just wondering if you ever encountered that kind of situation. On the other hand, since you’re a question asker by nature, I doubt whether “later” ever stopped you! What do you think you’d say to people who give up easily?
Go look at Marc’s post (also Xuefeng’s for that matter). I’m not sure you’re saying different things about the Guardian article; however… see what you think.
I really enjoyed your articel. However im curious to know your stance on digital learning. Do you belive that by giving a young child the internet, they are more likely to go off topic and allow their large curiosity to distract them towards whats important? Or do you think this huge world is beneficial to their learning. The internet does pose a lot of distractions, and even then there’s also a huge abundance of fake information online. The Guaridan article does explain that a child averages 107 questions an hour, whos to say that they don’t receive the right information online? Im just curious on your response, but still, good job!
I agree with you that curiosity is the most important in our life because having curious about something backed us to focus on and learn to do our best, which takes us a long way. The system of education worked very diversely but everyone has their own process of learning. However, I am curious to know more about your digital world. Do you think that at an early age having the internet is most beneficial where kids are more curious to learn new things or it’s affection for having it? Does it make much more different than it was before? I personally enjoyed reading your writing. There are many interesting ideas you have listed in your writing.
Your thoughts and ideas generated in the your article was so said thoroughly and I like the idea you sated and how you approached what Baldwin meant when he said “The world is a larger place”. And also I agree with you on the idea about the curiosity, I feel like everyone needs to learn at their own pace and if they have any curiousness about whatever they are leaning about, then they should have all the right to either be curious and ask as much questions they need to ask in order to make what they are trying to understand from the topic they are leaning make sense to them.