Image Courtesy of PBS
Before the Internet and before the printing press, knowledge was the preserve of the 1 percent. Books were also luxuries only available to kings. The arrival of the printing press and, latterly, the worldwide web has broken this monopoly. Today, in a world where vast inequalities in access to information are finally being leveled, a new cognitive divide is emerging: between the curious and the incurious.
Twenty-first-century economies are rewarding those who have an unquenchable desire to discover, learn and accumulate a wide range of knowledge. It’s no longer just about who or what you know, but how much you want to know. The curious are more likely to stay in education for longer. A hungry mind isn’t the only trait you need to do well at school, but it is the best single predictor of achievement since it is associated with intelligence and conscientiousness.
Students need to stay curious, because the wages for routine intellectual work, even in professional industries are falling. Technology is rapidly taking over tasks historically performed by human beings, and it’s no longer enough to be merely competent or smart. But no computer can yet be said to be curious. Curious people are often good at solving problems for their employers, because they’re really solving them for themselves. When working with others on the same problem, most people cut themselves slack. Highly curious people form an exception to this rule.
We ought to be doing everything we can to foster curiosity but we undervalue and misunderstand it. Our education system is increasingly focused on preparing students for specific jobs. To teach someone to be an engineer or a lawyer is not the same as teaching them to be a curious learner – yet often the best engineers and lawyers are the most curious learners.
NaNa Asare 