Thursday, September 29, 2005
Writing to explore
I found this article corroborating what I have believed, that to explore an idea, a thought or a concept, writing is the best tool. If you put down your thoughts, you have a chance of not only explaining it to others, but also to make your beliefs clearer. You wouldn't discard stupid ideas or wouldn't even try to classify your thoughts or judge your thoughts, but when you write them down, you will be the first critic of your thoughts before anyone else, and that acts as a nice filter. What comes down is better than whats in your head. In this article Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University has developed a nice economics 101 course to explain all the odd things in life. In the class students explore odd observations by writing about them. E.g. Why do drive through ATMs have instructions in braile? Why do women buy their wedding gowns and men rent the tux? Simple answer, "Its the economics stupid".
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/business/29scene.html
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2 comments:
I was thinking about writing vs reading a couple of days ago. In Baudolino, Umberto Eco has one of Baudolino's advisors telling him that if he writes, he does not learn anything new; if he reads, he can learn so many new things. This article proves that writing and discussion are very good learning tools too.
Writing cannot replace reading in learning. In fact, writing, I believe, just helps you identify your convictions and makes your thinking clearer. To learn something new, reading/listening/discussing are very potent and are absolutely irreplaceable.
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