Hi, this is Ron White and I am a two-time USA Memory Champion. I have so much admiration for Albert Einstein. Studying his life I have made him my role model, and would like to share some things I have learned about Einstein search for answers.
Some would say that Albert Einstein was arguably the smartest man who ever lived. Amazingly he didn’t speak until he was four, and was simply average in school. There were some teachers in his life who probably were taken aback with his success later in life. In his German grammar school, teacher Joseph Degenhart, for example told Einstein “nothing would ever become of you.†Another time, just before Einstein left school for good, Degenhart said to him, “Your presence in the class destroys the respect of the students.â€
Imagine having a teacher speak to you that way! A lesser man would feel defeated and it could stunt their emotional development and probably inhibit them from becoming what they should have accomplished. To Einstein it was liberation.
What was it that Einstein did that would elicit such a vehement response from an educator? It probably was the0 fact that Einstein was constantly asking questions – most likely ones the teacher did not have answers for. His teachers took this as a lack of obedience. Actually he was simply ‘his own person,’ and found the rote teachings of groupthink educators contemptible. He once said later on, “He who joyfully marches to the rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him a spinal cord would have sufficed.â€
Albert Einstein once said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.†He also said, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.†His obvious dislike for formal education in no way meant he was against becoming educated. He saw these as distinctly different concepts. He was passionate about learning, and spent his entire life questioning traditional thinking in order to find answers to the most complex of problems. His curiosity was constantly taking him to new heights that would benefit humankind, and he encouraged the same in others.
When Einstein was in his twenties he was asked, “Why do you ask such naive questions?†He replied, “Because I was a slow developer and never received the stock answers that children are given on physics and science.†He also stated that he first pondered these mysteries of life while in his twenties, and was now able to give them more thought than a child. This questioning mentality ultimately led to his discoveries.
Do you follow the thinking of those around you, or do you ask questions and challenge yourself to find the answers? No discoveries were ever made by following the crowd. It was those who asked questions who were successful.
As young children we constantly ask questions, which is how we learn. If our parents got exasperated with us we simply sought out the answer on our own. When did we stop doing this? Successful people continue through their lifetime. Those who stop questioning, whether it is because they are afraid to look stupid or simply don’t care, are dooming themselves to a life of boredom and mundane existence.
In 1930 when speaking to a group of students, Einstein began by encouraging them to ask questions, even if they seemed foolish. “There is no stupid question,†is not simply a cliché. The fact that you asked the question shows you are interested and want to learn the answer. Never stop questioning or exploring, it make life exciting – and who knows, you may find out something that could revolutionize the world!
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”†– Albert Einstein
Sources:
Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein: Stanford University – http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html
The World As I See It, An Essay by Einstein: http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm
My Life As It Unfolds – 7 Lessons From Einstein: http://adigopula.org/?p=26