The Case for Teaching Ignorance Summary and Response

Jamie Holmes 2015 article, The Case for Teaching Ignorance, explains the importance of ignorance in learning. Holmes tells the stories of Dr. Marlys H. Witte, a University of Arizona surgery professor, and Dr. Stuart Firestein, a Columbia University professor and neuroscientist, who both longed to teach courses regarding knowledge and ignorance. They wanted to teach students the importance of questions and the limits of knowledge. Holmes uses these story to highlight the importance of curiosity and not knowing the answers to everything. Holmes mentions that Firestein specifically was astonished that his students felt that scientists knew everything because he knew that science is always being revised and questioned- facts aren’t solid things. In addition, Holmes highlights the idea that the more people know, the more questions come about. In his own words he says, “The ever-expanding shoreline, where questions are born of answers, is terrain characterized by vague and conflicting information.” This uncertainty can sometimes confuse and frustrate people, however. He mentions a point made by Gary P. Pisano who explains that once people, particularly businesses, use something that works, they are too afraid to try anything new and uncertain. He calls this “learning mode” which can be a problem. Holmes concludes that although the study of Agnotology is still new, it is extraordinarily significant for fostering curiosity, growth, and knowledge amongst the younger generation.


The Case for Teaching Ignorance highlights some very important ideas in a very short article. A line that really resonated with me was when Jamie Holmes mentions Marlys H. Witte's idea for a new class she wanted to teach titled, Introduction to Medical and Other Ignorance. Holmes mentions that Witte, “wanted her students to recognize the limits of knowledge and to appreciate that questions often deserve as much attention as answers do.” This quote was really important to me because it shows that an educator, someone who is helping to mold the minds of our next generation of doctors, politicians, etc., understands how students typically perceive knowledge, and wanted to change something about it. Rarely do teachers design a class that completely shifts the way we view thinking, hence the negative reaction Witte faced from an official who refused to support her class. Witte did not back down, which I commend, and continued to believe that this class was necessary for understanding knowledge and research in a more thorough way. She understood that classes typically focus only on knowledge, but not how to grow and develop more from what we know. I believe questioning what we know and how we know it is essential in the learning process, and Witte understood that.
    The quote that really felt troublesome was when Holmes quoted Gary P. Pisano who said,, “The center of the island, by contrast, is safe and comforting, which may explain why businesses struggle to stay innovative. When things go well, companies drop out of ‘learning mode.’” While I do not disagree with this quote, I do feel that it applies to more than just businesses. As students, we tend to stick to what is comfortable and familiar- that would be knowledge. Because this goes well, we quite often do not search further and really question what we know, or rather, what we don’t. We learn things, we spit out this information on exams and in papers, and try to apply what we learn in the real world. But do we ever question it? Do we ever look for a deeper meaning? How do we know that we cannot change things or come up with something more accurate? Why do we believe that every bit of knowledge is set in stone? This is a problem. We stick to “learning mode” when we shouldn’t.