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I have always believed that curiosity was a sign of intelligence. This has struck me over and over again: the people I have met whom I consider to be clever and successful in their field all share the characteristic of an enquiring mind – not just about their own chosen subject but about the world in general. They never stop learning and they are fascinated by new avenues of research. They find other people interesting. On the other hand, those who lack curiosity seem to me to be dull by comparison. Somehow they have decided they already know enough. They lack that spark of ingenuity that makes them want to find out more about what’s around them.
I had suspected this was a personal prejudice of mine, but a recent article seems to show that it now has some scientific backing. Psychologists have found that curiosity and diligence are as important as intelligence for a student's success. The leader of the research team, based at Edinburgh University, says that "Teachers have a great opportunity to inspire curiosity in their students, to make them engaged and independent learners.”
You could say I was lucky. My parents, although they had no academic qualifications, instilled in their children a love of learning and a sense of wonder about the world. They thought that for any situation in which you find yourself, however mundane, there is something new to be learned to increase your personal intellectual storehouse. At school, the good teachers encouraged this mindset (I think I managed to ignore the poor teachers, although now I am a tutor myself I find I can learn a lot even from their bad example!).
When I was working in the civil service I attended countless compulsory training sessions and workshops of widely variable relevance and originality, sometimes delivered by staff who – let us say – were not gifted trainers. I always tried to approach these with and open, enquiring mind and I usually found that, no matter how tedious the session itself was, I could take something new from it to enrich my experience. Sometimes I’m afraid it was how not to organise a training session, but even that can be helpful! The point I am making is that if we approach these potential learning opportunities thinking that we will get nothing out of them, then that is exactly what we will get – nothing.
As tutors, I think that the greatest gift we can give a student is what the Edinburgh psychologists call a “hunger for exploration”. This is true no matter what subjects we teach. Education is not something that should just be “delivered” like a big heavy box slammed down on the desk, job done. We want our students to be asking us, and themselves, what? why? how? when? who? Where can they find out more?
Curiosity is the key.
