Peter Wood has an article over at the Chronicle titled, “How to Ask a Question” where he recounts a recent experience observing a college debate and the question and answer session that followed. Wood discusses some of the problems encountered and goes on to make some suggestions regarding formulating good questions. Go and read it.
One particular item caught my attention, though. In discussing the questions coming from the audience:
Clearly we need help. This isn’t a matter of a deficit in “critical thinking.” It is a problem of recovering a lost art.
Wood sweeps past a singularly important point with the statement:
That’s bad manners and an erosion of the civility that is needed for worthwhile public debate. But a good many of the questioners simply didn’t know how to ask a question.
That’s a free pass and I don’t buy it. Critical thinking is the lost art that must be recovered. At the very core of a debate, and especially the following Q&A session, the audience should be engaged in learning – Learning the arguments, increasing familiarity with the perspectives, developing debating skills, listening skills and critical thinking skills. Debates are virtually never about right or wrong, but about differing perspectives that are often valid on both sides, even when we disagree (yes, I said it).
All of Woods recommendations are good. But the reality is simpler: If you’re not curious for more information from the speakers, if you don’t have a desire to learn more from them, if there’s no clarification or further information or perspective you wish to know, you should not stand at the mic. There’s the rub. Today’s debates are not about learning. They are about activism, lecturing and advocacy. There is no curiosity. There is no exchange. There is no listening.
Asking a question isn’t hard at all. You need only be interested in learning. Therein lies the problem.