Cogito Ergo Sum

(I Think Therefore I am)

Desecrates said I think therefore I am, centuries ago. Man is a thinking animal; this is what distinguishes us from other species. Act of thinking make us special and important. But, what to think and how to think? From the day of birth a child is taught and trained. Taught to walk, taught to talk, how to sit or stand, rules of hygiene, rules to act or react and so on. I just mean to say that we are taught and trained to act in socially acceptable way. But the most important thing to teach is never in curriculum.

What is that??????

The most important skill to be trained in is thinking. We have phrases in common use like… ‘Think before you leap’, ‘thought provoking act’ etc…. . We are asked to think but no one tell us how? Teachers use High Order Thinking (HOT) questions to test my understanding of concepts. But no one teach me to think. In school language is taught using grammar rules. Maths is taught using formulae. Scientific concepts are taught using experiments in labs. But what are the rules of thinking, any formulae or experiments to establish the concepts of thinking.NO, there ‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ are none.

Children are curious by nature. They seek information by asking questions. As they grow up this inquisitiveness is killed because of the need to give right answers or to ask intelligent questions. The fears of being judged or laughed at suppress the creative thinking. The strangulation of process of thinking leads to bottled-up emotions, frustrations resulting out of unanswered requests and acceptance of sheep folk mentality.

Modern thinker Edward De Bono says ‘purpose of thinking is to create value’. But what values we can expect from sheep. The sheep need to be given the spark of free thinking again, if we want to save our society from being stagnant.

It is the responsibility of modern educators and parents to keep the spark alive by accepting the silly enquiries because they are not silly but innocent quests. We need to acknowledge a child’s observations and inquisitiveness. Try answering to the little enquiries honestly. Appreciate divergent thinking. Do not tag questions as ‘silly’ or ‘weird’. Promote application of thought. This all requires a great amount of patience and single minded determination from our side but pray we can try!

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