Questions

On pages 2 and 3, Tony Wagner in his book The Global Achievement Gap, tells a story of talking with a CEO of a engineering company.  And the number one quality that the CEO wanted from a candidate applying for a job is good at asking questions.  So, here is are two quick little question stories.

Have you ever been in a class where a teacher asks a question that is open ended, and when you answer, the teacher shoots the answer down and says "No, you're wrong!"

Have you ever been in a class where the teacher asks you if you have any questions and when you ask the question that you are wondering, the teacher treats you like you are an idiot for not knowing the answer?

I have way too often.  And this point is even discussed in Milton Chen's book Education Nation, on how too often schools are non verbally, and sometimes verbally, discouraging students from asking questions.  Questions are an integral thing in this new society that Wagner talks about, a student needs to understand why 1+1=2 rather than just accepting it face value without deeply understanding it.

I love questions, I love to ask questions because the answer always usually surprises me if I don't know much about the topic.  I love questions also because I ask them of others who may not know anything about it.  If I ask a question like that, it is not a content based question, but a thought-based question.  For instance, if we are talking about the No Child Left Behind Act, I would ask the person whom I am talking to a bunch of different question such as "Should children be tested every year?" "Should schools be held accountable for their students' success?" "Should standardized tests be used to assess whether the school, and therefore, the teacher, fails or not?" "Should the curriculum in the school be based completely on taking tests?"  In roughly this order, to find some good things in the NCLB act, but also address the big problems with the law.

Thought provoking questions are tough for some, but they come very natural for me.  For instance, I am in SPED 431 this semester "Colaboration skills and transition planning in diverse settings" and we were making a mind map on the goal of the transition Individual Educational Plan/Program process.  And one of the first things among the students that was said was that the goal is to get a good job after high school, and I asked "Is it to get a good job?"  And they replied with a change of answer to go to a good college after high school, and again I asked "Is the point of a transition plan to get into a good college?"  And they answered by again changing their answer to earn money and I asked again, "Is earning lots of money the point of a transition plan?  Or is it to find where the student is most happy in a post-secondary place, whether that be in education or a job?"

Questions are a pillar of education in this new society, both on the part of the teacher, as well as the students.  The teacher should ask not only thought provoking questions but try and find out more about the students culture (the youth culture, their home culture, their religious culture, etc.).  Be open to answers that you don't like when asking open-ended questions, and don't shoot them down, thank the student for responding and move on.  Questions are beautiful, terrifying (if you are the one to answer them), fun, intimidating, but totally worthwhile.