The power of questioning

When I joined college for my under graduate degree, it was a totally different world from the 12 years of disciplined schooling we underwent – from spic & span uniforms to rigid timetables for classes with punctuality and strict teachers. College was a world of freedom, if used appropriately and not wasted. Some of us had a clear long term career map in front from the time they joined – what discipline to choose, specializing in it, what to do, what not to do, whom to reach out to. For those who needed mentoring and guidance, our professors were the guiding light.

All of us were eager when a new Professor joined our department. He was sincerity personified – in the way he prepared for classes and delivered the content, ensuring that everyone gets the key points. But he never seemed to be satisfied. Nobody could figure out what made him happy. We did our assignments on time, showed interest in class. None of it mattered for him and it was a basic expectation he had.

The only thing that made him happy was when we asked him the right question, which he was expecting for a specific topic. We could see the delight on his face when he kindled our thoughts and made us unhesitatingly ask a question as a logical sequence to the point he spoke about. For those of us who started matching his wave length, our bonding continued beyond class – meeting him in the lab after regular hours for exchanging ideas, work beyond the curriculum, talking about career planning etc., That relationship continues to this day, with a severe drop in frequency since we are far away in physical distance but not in our thoughts. One phone call will bridge the gap of not talking for a decade.

Such is the power of questioning and encouraging it. It makes sure the recipient gets the message, introspects over it and eventually comes up the appropriate questions to make the learning complete. Lord Krishna encouraged Arjuna to come up with questions in the first chapter of Bhagavat Gita, not blindly accepting what he says, even though he knew that the teacher in front of him was none other than the all-knowing God himself. All lectures have a clearly demarcated and significant Question & Answer session at the end to plug the gap between the speaker and the listener. It is a session the speakers also look forward to, not to mention some in the audience.

A good culture encourages questions in the process of learning between teacher and student. To quote from Wikipedia, the Socratic method of teaching is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presumptions. Asking questions and healthy debates have played a significant part in the gurukul system of education in India – some like the long one Adhi Shankara had with Mandana Misra remembered to this day.

The flip side of asking questions is to make a fool of oneself, by asking an irrelevant question. In my opinion, only a question asked just asked for the sake of it falls in this category. It does not matter what others think of us. It is better to ask a question which may look dumb in the eyes of a few, instead of letting it lurk in our mind. For a good teacher, no question is a dumb one. Each one of us have different levels of understanding on a given topic. Questions are a way to let a class of diverse capabilities reach a level play field. This is one more dilemma we face like public speaking – to ask or not to. Let us leave it to the specific situation and context we face and not generalize it. In general, asking is better than keeping quiet, especially when we have a lingering thought in our mind.

As leaders today, it is important for each one us to guide the upcoming future generations and youth in the right direction. There are so many career options in front of them, whichever field we pick up. At the same time, there is a risk of some roles going away due to the adoption of technology. One way of helping the youth to identify their life long passions is to kindle questions in their mind – what is it that really interests them, what is their strength, how and where can they experiment with a topic before deciding whether they like it or not, whom can they approach for mentoring? Questions have played and will continue to play a key role in the evolution of mankind.

Note: All opinions and points-of-view expressed above are that of the author’s and do not represent that of any other individual or organization.

Image courtesy: By The original uploader was Lbaze002 at English Wikibooks [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons