Why ‘not knowing’ is alright…
‘I don’t know’ was a phrase I used a lot as a student. When my mentors quizzed me, my senior quizzed me or any of my other colleagues. Sometimes I really didn’t know. Sometimes I wasn’t as confident of the answer or worried as to how I would be perceived if I went wrong and at times I knew that I knew but couldn’t recollect it just yet, the information buried under truckloads of other information that I have consumed over the years.
Our education system is one where so much importance is given to rote learning. Even as kids we are taught to learn by heart those poems for the recitation exam not create one, to rote learn formulas and answers and step by step methods for our theory and practical exam not see and do everyday. Logic and reasoning in such cases often take a backseat.
We are made to feel guilty if we do not come up with the perfect answers on the spot since the ones with the best regurgitating abilities are lauded. We are never told that ‘not knowing’ is alright and you can always learn it. Not wanting to know however is detrimental to the learning process.
We all have our strengths and our learning methods. Not everybody can read up an article and reproduce it verbatim. I agree that is an important and often useful skill too. However, I believe it is the reasoning ability and the approach to the problem rather than the end answer that is more important for driving lessons home.
One of my mentors when confronted with a googly question (a genuine doubt from my end) would always answer with ‘I don’t know’ though most of the times he had an answer to everything I asked. He was probably one of the very few people I have met who was so comfortable and confident about his skills that he found it alright to admit when he didn’t know something. He never made up an answer, never bluffed, never felt slighted and was never egotistic about having been caught off guard by a student. He simply said, ‘I don’t know’. He not just said that to me but also to patients when he didn’t quite know what was wrong with them. This quality in him made you feel at ease about not knowing everything under the sun.
He never yelled, he never screamed and never humiliated you for not knowing stuff. He taught whenever he could and for those teachers I am always grateful. In fact, it is a principle I think all educators must follow. If you cannot contribute to the person’s growth, you do not get the privilege to chide them either. I have had mentors scold me but they were also the ones who genuinely wished well for me or took efforts from their end to train me. I have also had people only yell and contribute nothing. God bless them with better workplace etiquettes.
I truly believe one should not be egotistic when it comes to learning. Like someone said, “Saying I don’t know and asking queries may make you look like a fool for once, but never asking will keep you a fool forever.” There are always people better than you, worse than you and at par with you. There is stuff you know better than others and stuff that others know better than you. The wise will learn from each other and help each other grow.
