Hands in the air

I've mentioned previously that I tend to be remembered. Whilst I'm sure it has something to do with a slightly uncommon name, terrible co-ordination and a tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (ala dvd in the eye), I'm aware that these reasons are small when compared to my perpetual persistence in the pursuit of knowledge… that is, the fact I ask ALOT of questions 

Yep, that girl sitting in the front row with her hand waving maniacally in the air of your classroom, university lecture hall, school assembly, work meeting or in fact any place of gathering, that's me. I bumped into a friend the other day who started explaining with excitement the book he is working on currently about the journey through University. Without pause he launched into a rundown of people you tend to meet that seem to tie into most students experiences, 

"you know, that annoying person who's ALWAYS asking questions.. constantly has there hand up (laughs to himself)"

"yeah…..(I look around that was me"

….awkward…

Right about this time you might assume I'm ashamed by this fact, embarrassed by my unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Nope, far from it in fact. I love asking questions - ok, your thinking, we get that, probably why you keep asking them, but it's more than that. I'm exercising my right to ask them. Since when is wanting to learn a bad thing… Teachers in high school hated me for it, mostly because they never had the answers. I think that's sad, there seems to be this stigma in society where not knowing things is a weakness, a sign of stupidity. So as far as I can tell - no knowledge equals stupidity - in order find seed knowledge you need to ask questions - asking questions means you don't know this knowledge - and no knowledge… you see my point, it becomes a vicious cycle. 

I teach part time and the first thing I tell my students is "don't ever be embarrassed about not knowing something, it has nothing to do with your intelligence, just the fact no one's told you yet. The only way you learn is to ask questions, and if no one knows the answer, we'll find it out together. 

So go forth, ask those questions, - Seek. Learn. Grow… after all, my arms getting really tired from asking them all myself :) 

(thanks to David Robert for the inspiration on this illustration -

check out his web site at http://www.davidrobertsillustration.com/home.html

(illustration idea came from the novel "Dirty Bertie")