Tag: learning

How to Rediscover Your Curiosity When Learning

“Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”

Mark Twain

My father used to say this quote. He often said it anytime I couldn’t respond to a question of his on a topic of mathematics. Though I still hear this quote to this day, I’ve slowly began to adopt this idea of thought.

I went through a decade of education. When I look back at it, I realize I did so without a thorough understanding in any topic matter. I learned what I needed to learn in order to graduate and attend higher education. You ask, what’s wrong with this? Nothing is wrong with this, but now sitting in college, I’m torn between what I should study.

I say this as throughout my life, I never had the curiosity to learn further than the surface material. This is common. Approximately 75% of students switch their major at least once. They do so throughout their time in college.

Let me say though, there is nothing negative about this. People discover themselves at different times throughout their life, and for most, it does not happen throughout the teenage years. I write this post to encourage curiosity during these years. If you have passed them, start as soon as you can.

Your aspiration for a certain field or hobby will not last if you lack curiosity. You need to be curious to learn more about it. The reason why aspirations die is curiosity takes work. There is no curiosity without spending hours of research, struggle to understand, and practice, practice, practice.

For instance, the story of Rick Beato resonated with me deeply. It shows how work ties hand in hand with curiosity. This combination led him to the person he is today. While he was a bad student and faced rejection throughout his musical career. However, his resilience allowed him to continue with music. It also helped him escape his comfort zone in the art.

Now, you don’t have to be curious about all that you learn about. Beato himself states he was a bad student, and his real work was all rooted in music. Find what you resonate with. Instead of stating that you are passionate about that field, work to improve in it. Dedicate time to enrich your skills. This will help you ascertain whether it is truly the right path for you.

Unfortunately, it is difficult. Nowadays in my own life, I already am fading in my curiosity in chess. I haven’t been studying the openings and material I promised myself. As I write this, those textbooks collect thicker layers of dust on my desk. I barely participated in any tournaments throughout the first half of this year. Overall, I lost a part of my strength in the game, a part I worked so hard to achieve.

Although, whatever you seem curious about, take pride in it. Share your curiosity with others. It is something meant to be shared. Seeing others work hard at what they are into motivates us to work at what we relish. Take that motivation and run with it, continue to learn, and always continue to stay curious.

Why I Love Teaching, and You Should Too

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery”

Mark Van Doren

Throughout the five years that I spent in primary school, I never grasped mathematical concepts. Whether it was equations and inequalities, probability, or even number theory, my mind blanked. I didn’t hate maths, but it definitely made my heart skip a beat whenever my teacher announced another test or he cold called me on a question I definitely was not paying attention to.

Looking back at it, I was a overreacting a tad as I spent more time watching film and talking with friends than putting pen to paper. (Or pencil to paper as I made a lot of mistakes) Though, once I reached middle school, I began to change how I approached maths. I didn’t abandon a problem when I couldn’t solve it, instead I stuck to it, and tried my best to understand the problem than get done with it. I became stronger at maths as a result of this, and to the shock of my parents, actually found delight in the subject.

This soon was shown in my grades. I started scoring well on tests, better than I ever had in primary school. I also finished tests much more swiftly and was aplomb when I handed them in. Seeing this trend in my results, my maths teacher offered me to tutor the subject during break hours, and I contentedly accepted. I never knew that was the moment that my zeal for teaching began.

With each Tuesday, I taught my peers equations and inequalities, probability, and yes, number theory. As I taught, I became more passionate and did anything that I could to support their learning, whether that was figuring out how to design fresh problems, learn different methods of solving (still hate completing the square), and create personalized study material for them to use. I soon grew a knack of working with people and learning how I can help.

Nonetheless, this was the first step in my teaching tenure. As I reached towards the end of middle school, I started to gain an interest in the game of chess. Though I used to learn it in the past, I never appreciated the richness of chess. But, the game found its way back to me, and I decided to pick it up again. This proved to be a life-changing choice.

I swiftly learned the ins and outs of all sixty four squares on the board, and the distinct characteristics of the pieces. My instructor was taken aback, but was further inclined to work with me, and day by day I was able to become a natural at the game. Now, a half decade later, I am a tutor, a teacher, and an instructor myself to students across the country.

To get to the point, the reason why I am writing this is that teaching is valuable for the student and the teacher. Though my chess activity has fell stagnant throughout the years, teaching the game constantly refines my knowledge of theory and openings. Most of all, teaching provides a sense of delight that cannot be mimicked by any other trade. I would describe that euphoria in words but perhaps I let you undergo that sensation yourself.