Evan Horn – Student Voice: An Appetite for Curiosity and Wonder
My consistent goal in life is to go to sleep more knowledgeable, cultured, and worldly than when I woke up that morning. I have spent nights scouring the internet and pouring over books until it was nearly time for class, yet also spend every Sunday sleeping until 2 in the afternoon and watching football well past nightfall. I strive to absorb as much information as I possibly can. I engage in such a tiresome task for one simple reason: I enjoy learning. Whether it be watching a good documentary, or perusing Stumble Upon for a solid hour (or four), expanding my mental horizon feels good. When it comes to people’s natural curiosity, especially my peers, I find that most spend minimal time piquing their intellectual curiosity but instead the social side, as high school students retreat to Facebook and Xbox in their free time rather than thoroughly do their school work or whatever interests them at the moment.
Many high school classes do an insufficient job of stimulating intellectual curiosity for students. For many it can be easy to skate through those formative years by simply copying homework right before class and doing well-enough on exams. Classes are structured so that one can achieve the grade they want by doing the bare minimum; things like homework and participation points are purely grade boosters designed to help the students