Argument Essay Writing/ Journals

Students should bring certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively.

Learning is a process to assist students learning in-depth knowledge and applying that knowledge perceptively. Starting from school life student goes through a lot of textbooks, articles and many other informative papers. Some students accept what they read and what their teacher teaches them. But, student should think critically while studying and should skeptical instead of accepting it passively. Having blind faith on whatever is taught or read will never bring progress in the society as a whole. Being skeptical helps student to discover new ideas and thoughts.

In this world few can ensure the fact what the educators teach the students, the contents of the materials used for education and the way of teaching students are always accurate. Textbooks, journals, and materials for learning all must be precise for the students to get effective education. These are written by humans and the fact is human makes mistakes. Therefore, student should think critically while reading the textbooks and learning materials instead of accepting passively. Also, the course outline designed by a committee, formed by professors, teachers and even with a high business official, may be inappropriate for a student if he is just accepting it passively. For example, in many cases it has been observed that a student after his graduate studies find a placement in a company. But, as the student has gained only theoretical knowledge, he has to go some induction program to adapt himself with the company. This wastes a lot of time and money. But if students are allowed to voice this problem during curriculum making then they might get some practical sessions in their curriculum.

Being skeptical to what students learn is a crucial means by which they can practice their creative and critical thinking and also vital for the whole personal development in the whole life. Criticizing problems and issues will serve useful purposes for training one's mind, by leading the individual to view things at different angles which ultimately help him to obtain a deeper insight of the knowledge. Edison, one of the most celebrated inventors and without whom we may have had to use candle for illumination, had been thought as an idiot by his teacher when he was in grade school. But, the intellectual thinking helped him to invent worlds one of the best inventions.

The ability of being skeptical advances human knowledge and make contribution to the development of technology. One striking example that illustrates this point involves the famous physical scientist, Newton. If he had just passively accepted the fact the apples can drop from the trees, he would never had the chance to make one of greatest discovery of gravitational force, which is an enormous step in the history of development of force theory. Another example is Copernicus who asserted sun-centered theory. Although earth-centered theory was widely accepted at the time influenced by religious notions, which he once criticized, he never gave up promoting his assertion that the universe was centered with the sun which was proved true nowadays.

However, students should not question the validity of what is taught. There should be a kind of trust between the teacher and the student. Actually, the main point is that students should not study passively but actively participate by raising questions and doubts. They should not give up until they obtain all the answers.

© 2008 by Quazi Mainul Hasan. All rights reserved.