It is important for the sake of knowledge that children, adults, and all who are learning to ask the very simple question of why? Literally stated, you can ask why? as a verbal question you wish to be answered to you in a classroom or other learning situation or you can ask why internally and begin the process of engagement into research to gain the knowledge on your own.
I think that, sparking off from Greene's introduction to Releasing the Imagination, our school system is not built to allow the chance to ask why. The school system that is not based around or catering to the imaginative qualities is rigid and cold and only allows you to know who, what, where, and how, but rarely the why. The school system, at least in our country, is based on strict fact and cerebral functions of learning, basically your knowledge and capabilities are tested and you are given a score about how many facts you know and if you are able to logic and reason your way through.
For instance, my mathematics classes in high school never taught me why. I knew what the formulas were, I remembered them by copying them down on paper a million times, I knew who found the formula, I knew what the theories were, I knew the mathematical notation, but I barely knew why it was what it was. We barely talked about the history of mathematics or the developments of certain notations and key concepts in math. Take Pi for example. I never knew what Pi really was or why it existed and why it makes sense to upper mathematics. The only thing that I knew what that Pi has been given some approximation of 3.14, but I didn't know why it existed. It wasn't until this semester, in my mathematical ideas class that I found out that Pi corresponds to the measure of half a circle, and that it really doesn't need to be given a mathematical approximation because Pi is abstract. In other words, Pi's abstract qualities have been shown, not its mathematical calculations.
Mathematics would not have existed if it weren't for a few people with imaginations. Even mathematics is a very abstract way of making sense of things, making sense of the world we live in. These people who developed mathematics had to look into the future, had to be able to see and think abstractly, had to think outside of their limitations, and into their imaginations. They had to be able to see that something else was out there, other solutions and answers were yet to be discovered.
When you get to ask why, you learn more and then you are taking control of what you are learning. You can become engaged in the learning process if you are able to ask why! Just to know why, be taught why, and figure out why on your own is a way to build a deeper understanding.
If we want education to be the strong hold of our progress of society, we need to allow the imagination to soar. We need to be able to cater to those who want to think differently, those who want to see a better future and those who can see a better future, those who think outside of what is in front of them. The one's that ask why are the ones with the ablity to see that something is missing, that something is not being taught. The one's that ask why are the one's interested in learning, the one's that want to have a deep understanding. The one's that ask why will be the one's more open to the possibilities that learning brings.
I really liked some of things that Greene mentioned in her introduction. She really does see the progress of creating better education for the future as a long narrative with multiple viewpoints, characters, opinions, and ideas. She really does believe that there will be someway to change things. She herself has released her imagination.
