Stop Learning, Start Thinking

Before I begin, I want to thank Jacob Barnett for the idea. I’m going to tell you what his idea is and why I agree with him.

Jacob Barnett was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. Doctors predicted he wouldn’t be able to talk and do normal day-to-day tasks. He would focus on details much more than other children his age would, which was mistaken for staring off into space. He eventually was given special education, where he was still not learning anything, but rather beginning to understand nature and logic. At age 10, he learned all of middle school and high school math in the span of two weeks so that he could attend a calculus math class at a local university. In a segment of his own on Ted Talk, he explained how two of the world’s greatest scientists- Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein- made incredible discoveries when they were forced to think instead of learn.

Now I want to make Jacob’s point loud and clear- instead of forcing information down your throat like millions of other kids have done, try thinking about something. Pick your favorite passion and think about it, maybe something you never thought of will surprise you. When we learn something in school, we are reabsorbing the information that someone else had discovered and left behind for us to soak up. With a structure like that, there is never a chance for the active imagination to breathe and flex its muscles.

Some people live in cities where the stars are drowned out by the artificial light that the buildings produce. When they drive out into the countryside and look up, they are amazed. Their eyes don’t leave the speckled sky and all they can think about is how beautiful their world is outside the home-made biome of light that they have to deal with for the majority of their lives. How does this relate to the subject? Well, if you want to discover something new and beautiful, you will have to venture outside the already discovered and created world and possibly look at things at some incredibly awkward angles, but only when you step outside the bounds of what’s already being taught will you discover something truly great.

I want to encourage all of you to take a few moments to yourself when you have some free time and just spend it thinking about something you truly care about, and see what comes out of it. You might find yourself thinking more and more, and maybe those thoughts will turn into something physical- A blueprint, a model, a rough draft, etc. Learning is great to get you off the ground, but to truly fly you’ll need to think with your own special brain and see what you can do.