This article is the second part of the two-part series “What Comes First is a Question.” The first part was published in Issue 3 (09/23) of the 2022-23 school year. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. As a brief summary of part one, Dr. Murray introduced the idea that “Asking questions is a gateway to universal knowledge and human advancement.” He relayed that children ask thousands of questions to discover the world around them and that we should use children’s curiosity as an example in our quest for knowledge. In fact, some of the greatest minds that have ever lived highly encouraged curiosity and asked great questions. Our questions help in our search for truth, scientific advancement, and growth in every part of our lives. Dr. Murray finished the article by encouraging his readers to ask questions, and he has graciously provided us with a “part two” where he will give us some tips on how to ask the best questions.
Have you felt intimidated and discouraged from asking questions? Are our schools killing creativity and curiosity? Many think so. Schools are killing curiosity! This was the title of a 2020 Guardian newspaper report on education. I invite us all to listen to the TED talks by the late Sir Ken Robinson on these topics. Look them up on YouTube. They are among the most popular and most watched TED talks. I also invite you to search for the inspiring Skillshare video on YouTube called The Future Belongs to the Curious.
Here are some tips about asking questions:
Don’t be afraid.
You have an inalienable God-given right to ask questions. In the book of Job, we find God asking questions of Job and Job asking questions of God. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of anyone. Don’t let fear and insecurity replace curiosity and necessity. The inspirational author Catherine Pulsifer wrote, “Never let fear stop you from asking something you don't understand or know. To pretend or to act as if you know is not a wise thing to do.” Confucius puts it more bluntly, “The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute; the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”
Keep it simple.
Ask why, how, and what questions. Ask for further clarification. Ask for repetition of a point. Ask to see a slide again or hear a statement again. Ask about difficulties and challenges encountered in the research or study. Ask about the limitations of the method and or hypothesis. Ask about future plans and or applications for the research or investigation. Ask the speaker about the personal and/or professional motivations for studying the topic or doing the research. Ask your teacher for an example. Ask your students to go beyond the obvious and think more deeply.
Be curious. Stay curious.
It is an honor and privilege to explore and probe God’s creation and works. Indeed, it is looking into the very mind and imagination of God. He isn’t afraid of your questions!! As Cary Schmidt, pastor and author, wrote, “God isn't intimidated by your questions, and He isn't surprised by your doubts.”
On Labor Day 2022 at Lake Michigan’s Weko Beach, I thought about these questions: how is it that when you place some of the lake’s aqua green colored water into a glass there is no color? What are the pitch and octaves of the sea? Can the sounds of the sea or lake be duplicated by musical instruments or choirs? When raindrops bounce elastically off the ever-undulating sea, how high do the raindrops bounce? What are the angles of curvature of crashing waves? Why do oceans and some lakes have waves while generally rivers and streams do not? Has this always been so?
Be humble.
No one knows it all or expects you to know it all. We live in an expanding universe. We will never come to the end of knowledge, to the end of the internet. There will always be more to learn, more to know, and more questions to ask. It is the presumptuous who believe that God has nothing more to say or do, for in Isaiah 43:19, He/She boldly asserts and assures us, “Behold, I will do a new thing.” Each day somewhere water and wind are re-engineering earth’s landscape. Each day somewhere sunlight and water droplets create a magnificent new rainbow. Indeed, when you came into the world, you were another of God’s new things. Each day new possibilities and opportunities for curiosity and inquiry are born.
Think Personal.
Asking questions open doors to new personal and professional insights and possibilities. Questions can be an entry to new perspectives, personal change, and self-development. The late Kobe Bryant was legendary for asking lots of questions of Jerry West, Magic Johnson, and particularly Michael Jordan to improve himself on and off the basketball court. He wasn’t just a basketball player; he was a relentless multifaceted seeker even beyond basketball. He wrote a book called the “Mamba Mentality: How I Play” and was the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Find and ask the obvious question.
It just may be the very same question(s) that others are wondering about. Your question can be doing others a favor or service. The French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote, “The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.” The ‘right’ question may just be the one that others are thinking about but not asking. The late American statesman Bernard M Baruch said it well, “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.”
Nurturing Curiosity.
This is for us teachers, specifically. Create a climate, in and out of the classroom, that nurtures inquiry and curiosity in students. In my classroom discussions on asking questions, some students vividly recounted teachers who discouraged inquiry and questions and made them feel ‘less than’ for asking questions. That should never be and is a specific reason for the diminution of curiosity in students as they traverse school. Do not shut down students’ questions or tell them to ‘shut up.’ Rather encourage questions, especially those for which you do not readily have answers, or those which challenge us to think more deeply and more critically about convention, culture, belief, and tradition. Questions flourish best and are of necessity in free and open, civil, and democratic societies. Teachers, in fact, should be exercising their own lifelong habit of curiosity and inquiry. I remember fondly my dad, who on occasions was a homeschool teacher for my siblings and me, as a living testament to lifelong curiosity and inquiry. So too, as teachers, we should not simply be masters of required content but also examples and role models of the never-ending discipline of questioning and enlightenment. In so doing the first act of divine creation continues. Let there be light.
“What comes first is a question.” What comes next is a question. What are your questions?
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.