No Parroting Allowed!
Learning Emergence by Asking Questions


"Is College a Waste of Money?"

When asked, "how do you best learn?" most people usually respond with either a technique, like, "in a classroom," or by naming their favorite sense, like, "I learn best visually." Unfortunately, this implies most people define "learning" as the ability to parrot the correct answer.

What is wrong with this? We believe that "parroting the correct answer" creates parrots, not students; dullards, not Einsteins. So how can we create more Einsteins? We believe, by asking questions which are intended to provoke the student's own questions. More important, we see this as the best way with which to reawaken in students the love of learning.

This week's topic is, "Is College a Waste of Money?" Would you like to awaken your love of learning about this topic? You can, simply by reading the teacher's questions and then, by asking yourself, "what questions did these words just provoke in me?"

"College Education - Waste of Money or Valuable Momentum Learning?"

After reading Steve's comments from the August 14, 2006 email, I was reminded of a thought I had during our last group. The thought was that I really didn't learn anything that stayed with me during my classes in college, especially in relation to my chosen profession; accounting. The professors and I failed to connect, and I did not connect to the material that I found extremely dry.

Needless to say when I eventually took the CPA exam, an exam necessary in obtaining a CPA license and one considered to be more difficult to pass than almost all other professional exams, I failed. I then enrolled in a review course. It was given by a premiere company which specialized in preparing candidates in taking and passing the exam. Once again the results were less than favorable.

I finally passed the exam after finding a study partner, or I should say, she found me. We decided to study three times per week, using the material from the prep course. We connected to each other and to the material. We discussed real life scenarios and questions more real to us.

My questions are:

The Teacher's Questions (asked by David)

Sample Student Response Questions (asked by Austin)