THE COURAGE TO SAY I DON'T KNOW

A new academic year comes with new expectations and challenges. It is the second week of the term and we are finally getting into the flow of things. Some we are yet to figure out and that is okay.

There is a strange pressure, particularly among young people, to have an answer to everything.

We sometimes fear saying “I don't know” because we think it makes us look uninformed, unintelligent or unprepared. So we guess. We pretend. We laugh at those that acknowledge that they don’t know.

Yet there is considerable wisdom in admitting the limits of our knowledge.

A student who says, “I don't understand this; could you explain it again?” is not demonstrating weakness. They are creating an opportunity to learn. Even in everyday conversations, saying “I hadn't thought about it that way” can open the door to a better understanding.

We do not become knowledgeable by pretending to know everything. We become knowledgeable by being curious enough to discover what we do not know.

No one has a monopoly of wisdom. We all have something to contribute.

May we be intentional about seeing lack of knowledge as an opportunity to learn and not a weakness.

Ms. A. Chiwaya

Law & Psychology Teacher