When Did Questions Lose Their Place?
Hello everyone.
I am @GoodMorning, an HSP and anti-Todai-ism advocate.
Since I was in elementary school, I was a child who asked many questions.
Back then, I didn't think about gains or losses,
and I would naturally ask things that went beyond the scope of the lesson.
“Why does it happen like that?”
“Is there another way to think about this?”
Even if the teacher couldn't answer on the spot,
they would say this to me.
Well, you can solve all of that once you go to university.
I naively believed those words.
As I moved on to junior high and high school, the atmosphere changed.
Especially in high school, the focus of instruction was clear.
Entrance exams, passing, and achievements.
Questions were not welcomed, but rather something to be
managed.
“You don't need to think about that right now.”
“That won't be on the entrance exam.”
“We don't have time.”
My questions were put on the back burner,
and eventually, I stopped voicing them.
Even so, I held onto the expectation that
“it must be different once I get to university”
until the very end.
University certainly had an academic atmosphere.
The syllabus included office hours,
and time for questions and consultations was established as a system.
So, I would research and think for myself,
and then visit the faculty members with the things I still didn't understand.
As I visited them a few times,
I think the distance between us gradually closed.
There were more moments where they would speak their true feelings.
And then, one time, I was told clearly.
Questions within the scope of the curriculum are fine, but as a rule, I cannot answer anything beyond that.
On another occasion,
I was even asked, “Are you bombarding me with questions?”
I also went to student counseling.
What I was told there was an explanation based on the premise that the professors were busy.
Faculty members are busy.
Your question is at a high level.
I am not a tutor.
Honestly, perhaps I didn't know.
Logically, I can understand it.
If I were in the position of a teacher,
I think there would be times I would feel the same way.
Therefore, this is not
a matter of anyone's personality or good intentions.
What I felt was
the structure itself that could not fully accept the questionitself.
In elementary school,
I was told, "You can solve it if you go to university,"
in high school,
I was told, "Don't think about it now,"
and in university,
I am told, "That is outside the curriculum."
The question has been continuously postponed.
And finally,
it had nowhere left to go.
The institution of the university
is often spoken of as a place for free inquiry.
But in reality,
expected questions
processable questions
questions that fit within the time limit
are the only ones welcomed.
Questions that go beyond that
are quietly rejected, despite good intentions.
The reason I distanced myself from the research community
is not because I came to dislike academia.
It is because I felt that the room to treat a question as a question
was far too narrow.
I still think about it even now.
Is it right to tell a child who keeps asking questions that "everything will be fine if you go to university"?
If universities cannot contain questions that fall outside the curriculum,
perhaps we need to be more honest about that fact itself.
This is a story of disappointment, but at the same time,
it is also a record of where questions go to be lost.