Shoshin -- the Beginner's Mind

What separates poor students from the good isn't an encyclopedic knowledge of topics, but a willful admittance of ignorance and a receptive, though fundamentally critical state of mind. The best students don't have good answers -- they ask good questions.

The concept of "Shoshin", the "beginner's mind" is an important martial concept that encourages one to revert to the mindset they had upon the first day they began their training in a martial art. By doing so, one is able to dispose of preconditioned beliefs, ideas, and notions that inhibit the healthy growth of effective technique that is not based on personal conjectures of "what should be" -- it addresses directly "what is". This is crucial.

Transfer this idea to education and academics. Majoring in Political Science makes this particularly difficult, as all people tend to posit the own version of what is true and what is false upon their own version of reality -- which is all too often conflated with a fundamental concept of "what should be." This is faulty, as it predisposes one to one belief or another, and makes it impossible to make clean, effective judgments for effective political solutions.

To paint an example, at our weekly lecture series on international affairs, there are often two types of people who speak out during the Q&A session provided by our speakers. One is a know-it-all who makes long-winded questions intended to put the speaker in a defensive position -- as if somehow a college undergraduate is going to outsmart and embarrass a Ph. D (or four-star general, in one case). The other is an individual who asks a question that readily admits their own ignorance, and doesn't seek a definitive answer, but rather, seeks to garner the perspective of an experienced individual. Though the first person may be able to make a strong argument, the second will be the better student, as he is the one who is receptive towards learning all ideas, and not just those that identify with their set of beliefs.