I don’t know

Heard a great piece this morning on NPR as I was driving my oldest to the School for the Creative Arts.  It was with author Leah Hager Cohen who was talking about her book I don’t know:  In Praise for Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t). 

While I appreciated the conversation that she had with Scott Simon about honoring self-doubt and admitting when you don’t know something, what struck me as particularly insightful was her take on children who are now graduating from high school.  She noted that these children are the first to have spent their entire childhood in an educational system confined to the guidelines and expectations of No Child Left Behind.  What she said she feared most, was that these children won’t admit when they “don’t know” because they have experienced little opportunity for doing so.  Instead, as Cohen suggested, these children have grown up during a time when there has been a premium set for knowing the right answer and being able to fill in the right oval on a test.  She added further that she worries that these children have not been taught the value of experimentation, failure, risk taking and the process of inquiry.

Click the link to listen to the interview, or join us on facebook for a discussion about this topic (posted on Sept 17 to our timeline).

posted by Eric Dustman

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