ABSTRACT
The idea that teachers should encourage curiosity seems obvious to many people, and is supported by recent findings in developmental psychology and neuroscience, as well as by philosophical greats such as Thomas Reid. In this chapter Michael Brady raises some doubts about the importance placed on promoting curiosity by educators. He suggests it might be a mistake to give priority to encouraging curiosity over other educational values. This is in part a practical worry, grounded in the thought that curiosity is otiose when other educational values are promoted. But partly it is a matter of justice. Brady maintains that encouraging and praising curiosity might have a tendency to reproduce inequalities from one generation to another, since those who are curious are typically already in a better position, from the standpoint of learning, than those who are not. Praising and encouraging curiosity, without thought of the underlying factors to which curiosity is responsive, thus runs the risk of perpetuating unfairness in educational contexts.
