"I don't know" by Isabella

"I don't know" by Isabella - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The idiom “don’t take ‘no’ for an answer” is inarguably a common, familiar one. It represents the concept of remaining persistent, and standing your ground. But the phrase “don’t take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer” was not as self-explanatory. Especially to a sixteen-year-old junior in High School. When my AICE Thinking Skills teacher introduced and elaborated this phrase during the first day of school, I did not appreciate it the way I do today.
“Don’t take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer” is realistically the most important lesson I have learned from a teacher. Mr. Kolosey taught a Cambridge course that focused on teaching students how to develop deeper intellectual skills, and enhance ways of thinking. Every day, he would display mind puzzles that caused the class to think outside of the box and consider all possible answers backed up by reasonable explanations. Some days it was a rebus that had a hidden meaning or phrase, and other days it was a Sherlock Holmes story with a solution you’d least expect. Mr. Kolosey did not believe in choosing students who voluntarily rose their hands and requested to give an answer. Instead, he would roll two dice: the green die determined the table, and the purple die determined the student sitting at that table. This process forced every student to come up with at least one plausible answer due to the possibility of being “the chosen one”, as he’d taunt. The teacher would accept any answer, whether it was obvious or a stretch, as long as the student could argue their explanation. In his perspective, “I don’t know” is the only unacceptable response.
Mr. Kolosey proposed that “I don’t know” is not an admissible answer, because it cannot backed up. He also believed that a wrong answer was better than no answer; and “I don’t know” was the equivalence to no answer. This is the most important lesson I have learned from a teacher because it taught me to avoid taking the easy route by giving in immediately. When given a challenge, I am able to come up with multiple answers and provide explanations. Also, I can develop premises for my argument if needed (because I never know if the dice will choose me at random). If it were not for Mr. Kolosey teaching me to not offer nor accept “I don’t know” as an answer, I would not have the matured and creative mind I have now. Now it is easier for me to think in a more sophisticated manner, and improvise on the spot. While this lesson also assists me in other classes, it also helps me outside of school; and I know that I will use it in college when I am presented with questions that have more than one answer, and requires logical explanations.