ARE YOU A LEARNER?

How often do you relish the utter sweetness of asking that question after one hapless somebody asks a foolish question?

Questions like:

Was Mandela an actor?

Who is Miley Cyrus and what is twerking?

Is Arsenal topping the EPL table?

I'm like...

And some people’s personal favorite,

                Can Manchester United still win the English Premier League?

LOL

Problem?

It’s almost as if the street usage of the saying has no correlation with its literary meaning. And there lies in the problem…

The harsh truth about it though is that it is the direct opposite, a cynical blow to the sensibility of the ‘victim’, the height of sarcastic indulgence to anyone who usually would have asked out of the mere curiosity of a mind that wants to learn.

16 FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN DRIVES

Some folks believe that there are a few things that serve as motivators for people to do anything, 16 fundamental human drives they say.

What that means is that your choice between going to the stadium to watch a home-team match, reading about a concept your friend mentioned in-conversation, going to the movies with friends, or attending a religious event will largely depend on which of the motivators is dominant for you. 

Curiosity

Curiosity is the drive behind learning, and as children, we all have it at roof-blazing levels, but time, experience and some other factors teach us to gradually tune down. Haven’t you ever wondered how kids learn anything they see so fast? And its like one only grows dumber and not older?

As curiosity dwindles, one's motivation to acquire knowledge also reduces. #CuriosityIsDirectlyProportional ToLearning.

The Point

The “Are you a learner” question wouldn't have been such a big deal except;

1. The question often always comes as a reply to a perceived “stupid” question.
2. In doing this, we harshly (and embarrassingly) chide a learner’s ignorance, curiosity and all signs of it.
3. Depending on how the learner handles it, the act can significantly reduce the number one motivation of learning, curiosity.
4. A continued bashing and the learner will attribute ignorance and curiosity with bad emotions.
5. In the end, curiosity may or may not be killed, but will be thoroughly tinted.

A telling example is observed on Twitter. Imagine you came on Twitter and there is a buzz about an issue and everyone seems to be in on the gist, everyone but you. What do you do? Do you throw your ignorance into your timeline? Most unlikely, you’d rather find a friend’s DM to invade, right? Thought as much.

Conclusion

So, what do you do when curiosity takes you over and you are forced to ask questions because you really want to learn and somebody looks to make cheap points from you, and asks;

You should think: “Who isn’t?”

And say: “Shouldn’t I be?” or some other cool abbl to say.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. You my want to pipe down on how often you also make people feel dumb.