3 page English essay

We can't conclude this class without looking at one of the most important critical-thinking skills of all: the ability, and the willingness, to ask good questions.  

Great thinkers don't know all the right answers, but they know how to ask the right questions. 

As the reading linked below makes clear, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein were great thinkers largely because they were great questioners. Questioning was a critical component of their genius. 

You, too, have a head full of questions. Which raises the question, Are you a genius? Maybe you are.

But don't worry. You won't have to prove you're a genius to get a good grade for your final essay. You'll just need to write about one of the topics below, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Feel free to write about:

· one question (or perhaps several) currently crowding your head, begging to at least be asked, if not definitively answered;

· a time or two when you questioned something or someone, or failed to, and how it turned out;

· the differences between two types of questions: those based on wonder and curiosity, and those that challenge the status quo of conventional beliefs, behaviors, traditions, or authorities (and thus sometimes get you in trouble);

· anything you consider worth knowing about your questioning mind;

· any combination or variation of the possible topics on this list. 

Try not to sweat this assignment. Take it seriously, but not too seriously. Any approach you take to writing this essay will be acceptable, as long as you make a good, honest effort. Your approach can be creative and imaginative, or logical and philosophical, or silly and humorous, or skeptical and irreverent, or puzzled and inquisitive, or pretty much whatever you want it to be.

All I want it to be is: a) generally on-topic, and b) interesting and worth reading. 

It's been a tough semester online and you've done your work and I've done mine. At this point I'm just looking for something good to read.  

YOUR ASSIGNMENT, simply put :

Write a brief, personal essay about some questions you currently have or have had in the past. The essay should be at least 750 words long. 

NOTES : 

· Your essay should demonstrate a basic understanding of grammar, mechanics, and essay structure, but it should not be overly formal. No citations or works cited needed. Keep it easy, informal, and personal. Keep it real and readable. Make it interesting.  

· Your essay should NOT be a report on "The Questioning Mind," the reading linked below. It should not even mention Newton, Darwin, or Einstein. The reading was meant simply as a starting point for discussion, so feel free to ignore it once you've read it. I'm looking here for your very own personal response. We all have questions in our heads. I'm interested in what yours might be, or what they've been in the past, and whether you got them resolved or are still searching for answers. If you're still searching, hang in there. Every question is a quest.  

· Apologies in advance for the emphasis on dead white males in the reading linked below. The STEM fields, like most realms, were notoriously closed for centuries to everyone but white males. 

· Your essay is due June 10th, at which point you will finally have a conclusive answer to at least one recurring question of yours, namely: When the hell will this semester be over? 

· Okay, get to work.