This might be a #FirstCoffeeThoughts post but I really only want to say something briefly about it.
You can't know everything.
Not everything was taught in school.
The only way to know is to ask or to find out and I think we are so used to just existing in the world and taking things for granted that we simply stop asking questions and stop being curious or even surprised.
I love this post that I saw this morning but the comment section was so ... so ... so foul and mean.
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There are times when things occur to me that I didn't even realize that I didn't know ... and I'm legit kind of fascinated. I love that those moments can still happen ...
Just because you don't know something, doesn't mean you're stupid.
I wrote an essay decades ago about one time I had a sudden realization that I didn't know something and it resulted in one of the worst switch whippings I ever got ... bleeding, welts and all ...
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My father asked me if I washed my hands and I had said yes ... and he said "Did you use soap" and I started to say yes and then I asked ... "What is it in soap that makes your hands clean?" ... and honestly I got hit so hard, so fast, it knocked me off my feet and I proceeded to get mauled.
The following Monday (it was a weekend), I asked my 4th grade teacher the same question and it prompted her to create a lesson and she helped me write a letter to Proctor and Gamble about Ivory soap.
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I don't remember how long it took them to respond, but they wrote back and she brought the letter in class and they wrote this elementary school level explanation about how soap is made and the ingredients in it that break down dirt. They even sent samples that we put in the bathrooms.
It was really fascinating and I have, obviously, never forgotten that lesson. This is how people learn things ... when they are taken seriously, when you explain in a way they can understand.
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It's kind of like that saying ... that people don't hate math ... they hate being embarrassed by not understanding math, they hate being made to feel stupid when they struggle with math .... it's not the math, it's the humiliating, sometimes abusive, sometimes traumatizing way that STEM is often taught at early levels. If you don't understand it, you're stupid ...
This is why learning isn't fun for a lot of people. This is why people aren't curious.
The amount of abuse and hate and name calling and "Americans are so stupid" comments that filled up the comment section of that post were absolutely appalling to read ... and it took me forever to even find someone that was willing to take the time to offer the actual scientific explanation for it ... but it was buried beneath all these comments calling this man all kinds of names and making him even feel bad for asking ...
People who treat people that way are trash.
I had SO many questions as a child. I was SO curious about so many things growing up. I had a TON of interests but NONE of those interests were things that were encouraged. My parents were angry that my interests were in things that were "for white people" and we mad that I didn't take an interest in traditionally "Black" activities or that I didn't like traditionally "Black" foods. Almost everything I learned came from blue collar white people who were willing to share their knowledge with me.
I was reading the DSM for fun in middle school ... and my parents used to make fun of me ... my mother especially thought there was something wrong with me that I would find that stuff interesting. They, and other adults, would straight up ridicule me and say that I thought I was trying to "look smart" by carrying around the book. But when my brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia who do you think they came to when they had questions about what that meant?
Call it a trigger I suppose.
When I see people putting people down for asking legit questions ... I just really think those people are a plague on this Earth.
Anyone that squashes curiosity and discourages learning is just evil in my book.
Do you know how had it is, to be a kid, and be interested in something that EVERYONE around you from adults to other kids, thinks is silly or stupid or not worthwhile?
Do you know how lonely that is? Do you know how isolating it is? Can you imagine how discouraging it feels?
Do you know the kind of shame and humiliation those feelings cause?
It still feels the same even when you're an adult.
Don't fucking do that to people. Don't be a garbage person.
Teaching is the greatest gift you can give to someone.
Whether it's as a traditional school teacher or as a guide or mentor ...
Sharing knowledge. Expanding minds. Fostering curiosity. Encouraging exploration.
That is why we are here. To help others. To be the best we can be for others. To leave the world better than it was before we came into it.
@thewebrecluse 🤣 I do understand ❤️
@thewebrecluse This was the main reason I applied to be a Graduate Student Assistant. I love helping/teaching people and I want to give back to a community that has done so much for me.
@thewebrecluse I hear you! I was discouraged from everything in a crabby tone it was…” what do you want to do that for?” Eye rolling included. Anything unknown or not of interest to her made her uncomfortable. I got less slack when I disclosed I had been dancing for a year than when I mentioned I wanted to go to college for Social work., 🤣
@Pennyformythoughts @thewebrecluse Took me a long time to convince my parents that I wanted to get my master's in history because "what can you even do with that degree?" So much is misunderstood!
@Pennyformythoughts @thewebrecluse Regardless of the employment opportunities a degree provides, obtaining a degree enables you to learn how to conduct research, analyze information, and think critically - three essential skills lacking in today's world.
I’m glad I went to College for Social Work. It gave me crucial tools for my survival and mental health.
@chevalier26 @thewebrecluse
@Pennyformythoughts @chevalier26 I don't put much focus on formal education as I didn't have much myself ... I learned everything outside of the formal education system. I don't believe its necessary for people to be successful or forward thinking and not everyone has the same access. I'm a self taught person and a successful business owner. There is no limit to what anyone can do if they have passion, discipline, and support. ❤️
@thewebrecluse @Pennyformythoughts Oh absolutely, I think there's too much emphasis on formal education as "the only way to learn". The most valuable things I have learned have been outside the classroom, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.
@Pennyformythoughts This was so especially true for me ... "why would you want to do that?" ... "that won't make you money" ... etc. Or in the case of my militant Black parents .. "no white person will ever hire you for that ..." or "you have to work 500 times harder than everyone just to do that" ... everything was about discouraging us and routing us towards "low ambition" type work and interests.
@thewebrecluse yup. My father once told me he’d send me to school when I got older college or university. I was 7. My mother said “ don’t tell her that you know it’s not true”. Wtf 🤣
@thewebrecluse constantly wiping their words is exhausting do you agree?
@Pennyformythoughts Honestly, everything they said and did was nonsense. I learned that early thank god ... if I hadn't realized that and pushed forward with my own independent learning and interests or found other people's parents to teach me stuff and encourage that learning I would have been so, so screwed in life.
@thewebrecluse I am so glad you did! 🙌 many people avoided our family 🤣 I am thankful for the few people who dared to care.
@Pennyformythoughts No matter what you always have to hold onto who you are and who you want to be ... no matter what anyone says to you, no matter what people do to discourage you ... you have to be true to yourself and you have to trust yourself ... or you're lost. ❤️ Whether you're a child or an adult this is true.
@thewebrecluse
Right on!
It take courage to admit ignorance on anything.
And how does anyone learn anything without asking?!
@testamonk EXACTLY ❤️
@thewebrecluse
Nothing makes me more excited than to hear or to say, "I don't know. Let's find out."
On my about me page under TURN ONS it has:
𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨.
𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩/𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚.
That is one of my most favorite SOUNDS in the world ... listening to someone talk about what they do, what they know, and teaching it with so much passion and enthusiasm. Not mansplainers. Not fans. But people who genuinely are knowledgeable and open to sharing it with others.
I learn 90% of things FROM OTHER people.
@thewebrecluse
Voltaire (and I'll mangle it) said to judge others not by their answers but by their questions.
And you are so on the button. Honest enthusiasm in a subject can make almost anything interesting. And then it creates that engagement connection between the people. "This has to be cool. Look how exciting it is to them!" I love that.
Your TURN ON really sums it perfectly. Well spoke!
I see often Black people saying we need to get my Black people in STEM and stuff like that ... which is true ... but I wonder how much of that stuff is even encouraged or celebrated in Black families. When you live in a household that belittles you for being curious about science or when you are surrounded by people that want to downplay the importance of math and science ... how do you expect to foster that kind of curiosity and passion? When people put you down for asking questions ...