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I wonder why some people end up being intellectually curious while others are not. I think intellectual curiosity is very important, especially now since the ma

I wonder why some people end up being intellectually curious while others are not. I think intellectual curiosity is very important, especially now since the majority of the world's information is available for free online. The person who grows up being intellectually curious will have a big heads up in the job market since they will have acquired more information than the other applicants. Plus, I think a lover for knowledge can enrich an individuals life as well. I don't know exactly how schools and parents can instill intellectual curiosity into their students and children but I think the subject matter should be researched and prioritized.

hardy263 15y ago
Well, that was what the author of the article was trying to tell us, wasn't it? Don't give marks and they'll be intellectually curious. Anecdote: I was really good at school at a young age, and I would get easy 80s in all my classes, so I never cared about marks, so that made me intellectually curious at a young age.
- abiekatz 15y ago
  The post provides a great anecdote but I am just saying that more research should be done on the issue. Yeah, I think not giving grades is a great potential way to encourage intellectual curiosity. Has there been any controlled experiments on this issue? Also is this practical during primary and secondary education? I don't know. I think some students without marks would become more intellectually curious while other students might just not do the work and just play video games instead. It's a tricky topic.
- randomdata 15y ago
  An alternative anecdote: I often received poor marks in school because I was curious about learning things that were unrelated to what was being taught at the given time. I distinctly remember sitting in high school math class solving some mathematical problems that were to be taught later because it was interesting and applicable to my learning needs at that point in time. The topic the teacher wanted to teach that day was not applicable to the problems I needed to solve at that moment, so it made no sense to learn it on that very day. If marks had been a concern of mine, I would have had to have given my teachers at least some attention, taking time away from my education.
  - TeMPOraL 15y ago
    Another anecdote: instead of doing math homeworks and paying 100% attention to the classes I started to learn programming, because I wanted to make games. I could program stuff at 13, and - thought having bad math grades ever since - learned the material I missed later, in a way that was more/less related to game development or my other needs.
yoshyosh 15y ago
This is a very interesting point, if anyone has any links to any resources or experiments that talk about stuff like this please do share :)
- jwn 15y ago
  Do a search on Amazon for Alfie Kohn, specifically "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes"
saraid216 15y ago
When you dig beneath the surface of the education systems, you find a host of alternative and progressive models that successfully cultivate and maintain intellectual curiosity. The issue isn't really a lack of research; it's a lack of interest. Pundits like to claim to be "for the children" or whatever, but they are generally more interested in tangential agendas that can leverage fear from threats to children rather than a sober analysis. I'd suggest starting by looking up who Alfie Kohn is. He is not a scientist, but he acts as a good aggregator.
ams6110 15y ago
Personal opinion: it's at least partly genetic. I think about how human societies evolved. You needed a few leaders and a majority of hunters/gatherers/soldiers. A few people are born with more drive, ambition, intellectual curiosity, call it what you will. The majority are content to be told what to do, in exchange for having their basic needs and security taken care of. Its fundamentally the same thing that leads to "alpha" wolves in a pack.
law 15y ago
> The person who grows up being intellectually curious will have a big heads up in the job market since they will have acquired more information than the other applicants. I unfortunately do not agree with you. Despite how much it kills me to admit this, intellectual curiosity (at least in the legal world) is more of a cancer... you don't want people who will bury themselves learning as much as they can about a topic. This mindset is discordant with the concept of deadlines, because it's almost impossible to estimate the duration of something that is by definition factorial in complexity. As such, employers in fields so heavily dictated by deadlines are not looking for people who thrive on learning...they're looking for people who thrive on completing the task that they're assigned--even if it means suppressing their intrinsic desire to learn in favor of an extrinsic motivator: $$$.
- GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
  Being intellectually curious does not, in any way, mean you are incapable of following directions to complete a task. And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone. Or it might mean that you think you've figured out that task X is a waste of time, but in fact since you're merely curious and not omniscient you might have missed the point of task X entirely. "Why do we need shoes anyway, man?"
    - GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
      Oddly enough, people are starting to question the whole shoes thing; apparently with good results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running
- deleted 15y ago
mtrn 15y ago
Another anecdote: when I was young, I just wanted to be on top in class - that kept me busy, but might would have killed my curiosity. Just in time, I changed to a high school for five years where we could visit voluntary courses in biology, electronics, math, sports, computer sciences, chemistry, drama and everything - no marks. We would even come to school before our first regular class, just to listen to a teacher philosophizing about some travelling salesman problem (we were about 13) and similar miracles from a math perspective. This school cultivated an atmosphere of both curiosity and competition - and could actually deliver - half of our teachers were PhDs - most of them eager to teach, learn, experiment and messing up labs until sunset.
- blackguardx 15y ago
  Where was this school?
  - mtrn 15y ago
    Eastern Germany.
tuttefrutte 15y ago
>how schools and parents can instill intellectual curiosity They can't. But the good news is that all small children possess curiosity. Parents and schools can help by not damaging it. This entails, among other things, no bribery or punishment.

hardy263 15y ago

Well, that was what the author of the article was trying to tell us, wasn't it? Don't give marks and they'll be intellectually curious. Anecdote: I was really good at school at a young age, and I would get easy 80s in all my classes, so I never cared about marks, so that made me intellectually curious at a young age.

abiekatz 15y ago
The post provides a great anecdote but I am just saying that more research should be done on the issue. Yeah, I think not giving grades is a great potential way to encourage intellectual curiosity. Has there been any controlled experiments on this issue? Also is this practical during primary and secondary education? I don't know. I think some students without marks would become more intellectually curious while other students might just not do the work and just play video games instead. It's a tricky topic.
randomdata 15y ago
An alternative anecdote: I often received poor marks in school because I was curious about learning things that were unrelated to what was being taught at the given time. I distinctly remember sitting in high school math class solving some mathematical problems that were to be taught later because it was interesting and applicable to my learning needs at that point in time. The topic the teacher wanted to teach that day was not applicable to the problems I needed to solve at that moment, so it made no sense to learn it on that very day. If marks had been a concern of mine, I would have had to have given my teachers at least some attention, taking time away from my education.
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  Another anecdote: instead of doing math homeworks and paying 100% attention to the classes I started to learn programming, because I wanted to make games. I could program stuff at 13, and - thought having bad math grades ever since - learned the material I missed later, in a way that was more/less related to game development or my other needs.

yoshyosh 15y ago

This is a very interesting point, if anyone has any links to any resources or experiments that talk about stuff like this please do share :)

jwn 15y ago
Do a search on Amazon for Alfie Kohn, specifically "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes"

saraid216 15y ago

When you dig beneath the surface of the education systems, you find a host of alternative and progressive models that successfully cultivate and maintain intellectual curiosity. The issue isn't really a lack of research; it's a lack of interest. Pundits like to claim to be "for the children" or whatever, but they are generally more interested in tangential agendas that can leverage fear from threats to children rather than a sober analysis. I'd suggest starting by looking up who Alfie Kohn is. He is not a scientist, but he acts as a good aggregator.

ams6110 15y ago

Personal opinion: it's at least partly genetic. I think about how human societies evolved. You needed a few leaders and a majority of hunters/gatherers/soldiers. A few people are born with more drive, ambition, intellectual curiosity, call it what you will. The majority are content to be told what to do, in exchange for having their basic needs and security taken care of. Its fundamentally the same thing that leads to "alpha" wolves in a pack.

law 15y ago

> The person who grows up being intellectually curious will have a big heads up in the job market since they will have acquired more information than the other applicants. I unfortunately do not agree with you. Despite how much it kills me to admit this, intellectual curiosity (at least in the legal world) is more of a cancer... you don't want people who will bury themselves learning as much as they can about a topic. This mindset is discordant with the concept of deadlines, because it's almost impossible to estimate the duration of something that is by definition factorial in complexity. As such, employers in fields so heavily dictated by deadlines are not looking for people who thrive on learning...they're looking for people who thrive on completing the task that they're assigned--even if it means suppressing their intrinsic desire to learn in favor of an extrinsic motivator: $$$.

GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
Being intellectually curious does not, in any way, mean you are incapable of following directions to complete a task. And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone.
- hugh3 15y ago
  And it actually might mean that by questioning what is the desired outcome, you complete the task a lot faster or perhaps even determine that working on task X is actually a waste of time for everyone. Or it might mean that you think you've figured out that task X is a waste of time, but in fact since you're merely curious and not omniscient you might have missed the point of task X entirely. "Why do we need shoes anyway, man?"
  - GiraffeNecktie 15y ago
    Oddly enough, people are starting to question the whole shoes thing; apparently with good results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running
deleted 15y ago

mtrn 15y ago

Another anecdote: when I was young, I just wanted to be on top in class - that kept me busy, but might would have killed my curiosity. Just in time, I changed to a high school for five years where we could visit voluntary courses in biology, electronics, math, sports, computer sciences, chemistry, drama and everything - no marks. We would even come to school before our first regular class, just to listen to a teacher philosophizing about some travelling salesman problem (we were about 13) and similar miracles from a math perspective. This school cultivated an atmosphere of both curiosity and competition - and could actually deliver - half of our teachers were PhDs - most of them eager to teach, learn, experiment and messing up labs until sunset.

blackguardx 15y ago
Where was this school?
- mtrn 15y ago
  Eastern Germany.

tuttefrutte 15y ago

>how schools and parents can instill intellectual curiosity They can't. But the good news is that all small children possess curiosity. Parents and schools can help by not damaging it. This entails, among other things, no bribery or punishment.