Are you an open-minded person?  How do you know?  I don’t know anyone who would admit to being closed-minded, but the law of averages would suggest that those people are out there.  You probably know a couple.  You might be one.  I might be one.

To have an open mind is to be self aware enough to know when you don’t know.  To admit to one’s self that there might be other perspectives yet to be considered.

Certainly, a mind is not either open or closed.  There are things for which I have made up my mind, and others where I might accept some discussion.  I think the question is more about how one approaches the world.  Do you tend to be a skeptic, or do you gaze upon the world in wonder.

I only ask these questions because recently it occurred to me that many of the things that parents and teachers do, encourage the closing of the mind.  We want our children to make decisions without all of the data.  We forget that children haven’t had that much experience being people yet, and we ask them questions like, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  Knowing full well that they can’t possibly know all of the options, we ask them, “what is your favorite movie, or song, or even color.”    Questions like these only serve to end debate; to close discussion.

As adults we know that life is not a destination, but rather how we spend our time.  The experiences we accumulate broaden our perspectives and make us much more interesting to be around.   Knowing this, we can design our questions to focus on what is not yet known; and how grand it is when new information is gained.

“Did you know there are people whose job it is to inspect wind turbines?”  or “I wonder how many different jobs are involved in manufacturing an iPad?”  Rather than asking a child’s favorite flavor of ice cream, ask “what is the most interesting place you’ve ever eaten ice cream?”  or “what flavor of ice cream do you hope to never have to eat!”  OK, that one might be a little closed-minded.

The point is, (I think) that we frequently force binary conditions on children’s thinking.  It either is, or it isn’t.  You either know the answer or you don’t.  This puts a lot of emphasis on knowing, which is a closed-minded state, rather than learning, which is an open-minded state.   Standardized tests are designed to take a closed-minded snapshot of an individual at a specific moment.  There is certainly a time when this can be useful.  It is important, however, to remember to also evaluate one’s process for learning.  I think the process is far more valuable than either knowing or not.

But I’m open for discussion.