“Ask you will get it, Seek you will find it”


For all of us and more particularly students, willingness to ASK questions and SEEK clarification is the sine qua non of good learning and effective participation.  Students need to be trained on the art of listening, questioning and participation. Consider for a while that you are the head of an educational institution and that in one of the guest lectures, the speaker invites questions and that your students don’t open their mouth!  How would you feel if especially while leaving that speaker makes a special mention of this development! (Or no development!). Well, we cannot blame on our students.  We need train them and invite them into doing these more frequently than not.



Isidor Isaac (1898-1966), Nobel laureate was once asked about his educational abilities and the person behind that. Without batting an eye lid the great man said ‘It is my mother who seeded in me these abilities. Every day on returning from school I faced this question from my mother invariably, ‘Did you ask a question to your teacher today?’ Just dwell on this attribute which found strong roots in him. Perhaps as a scientist who discovered Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, he must have questioned and questioned all through his life!

Well friends, what about you?  How long it is since you asked a question to your teacher. Can you recall the questions that you asked if at all? If your answer is in the negative, it is high time you started ‘asking questions, seeking the solutions and moving ahead in your journey’.  I suggest the following few steps for your better class room participation.

Read a few things in advance and be mentally prepared. As the teacher touches upon it, either you know it a bit more or that you absorb it as if you already saw/heard it.

Make brief notes on what you seek to question. Always answer these yourself ‘What, Who, When, Where, How and Why…’ With this kind of preparedness, your questioning gets sharp, purposive and relevant.

Whenever a thought in the nature of question pops up, write down in your personal diary. Some days later, when you find an answer, you will like and compliment yourself even more for the questions you had asked and recorded.

Do not show combative attitude while asking questions.  You must not look disagreeable yourself while asking a question.

After reading a chapter or coverage, make it a point to raise a few questions. This helps you understand the content and context with sun-light clarity. You do not have to ask all these to others. You can commit yourself to seeking answers yourself. That is the path for self-growth and discovery.

By, Dr. N J Shetty, M.Com, MBA, MA (Psy), LLB, PG. DHRM, PG. DMM, D. TD, CAIIB, Pragya, Ph.D. Professor & HOD, NITTE School of Management, Bengaluru.


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