The Answer is Just Not Enough

The newer generation of young children have been edified by the education system today to be capable of having the skills to find out the answers to a question very quickly. The reason why children are putting more of their focus on the answer is to satisfy the urge to score higher points, or to gain confidence. To solve a problem means to first understand the situation you are in and to familiarize the conditions or terms you are given. One has to comprehend concepts that this process may involve, in order to unravel the problem most effectively and smoothly. Without completely being in possession of these particular skills, people begin to become indifferent and unsympathetic towards the process of problem solving, which reflects on their actions when they continue to mature and results in some of the apathetic and unsociable atmosphere in our society today. By not having faith in the process, he or she often does not arrive at the solution. Without fully trusting your ways of solving a problem, you do not fully understand the concept leading to the discovery of the solution to the problem and can lose the chances of noticing the enjoyment solving a problem can have, and most importantly, letting go of the chances to learn. When someone can fully come to an understanding of the process, they can gain experience in solving different types of complications. This can lead to a discovery of a variety of different methods to solve a single problem, and can even uncover the pleasure there is hidden in the progression of solving a problem.

As our society has evolved, the competiveness has increased exponentially, since people all around the globe are fighting for the opportunity to take hold of the occupation that best provides them with the resources needed in life. In order to grasp those opportunities, people often look for the most effective way to reach the goal. This attitude of life usually starts to develop during the formative student years, when the most important goal is to receive high grades. I remember times when I memorized methods in order to solve problems quickly, and since knowing that a lot of this knowledge wouldn’t be useful for my occupation in the future, I memorized ways leading to the answers just to manage the tests. I had no confidence in solving the problem since I didn’t know what this monotonous and complicated process would bring me, so I focused more on finding shortcuts that would help skip over the steps I would originally have to go through if I really went through the process. This approach of learning led to the momentary memorization of a lot of knowledge without full understanding. The memorization of the methods meant not fully grasping the variables and conditions given to me. This meant I never solved the problem, I just got to the answer. Many people today put more of their focus on the answers rather than the process of solving the problem due to the apathetic attitude towards what may not be useful for them in the future. By doing this, most members of our society are missing the point of learning from what Gruber calls, “the game, or the wonderful process, if you will, of thinking”.

In the public eye, the process of solving these problems may seem tedious and uninteresting, but what the eye is missing is the feeling of achievement reachable only through personally experiencing. By looking superficially on the outside, one could miss the joy of peering pass the complications on the outside and looking into the discovery of more doors and windows leading to different results and solutions. Emile Berliner wanted to solve the problems related to the bad quality of the phonograph invented by Thomas Edison. The original one was built together with a series of tin foil and wax cylinders. Emile modified the phonograph by using a variety of different materials from glass, to zinc, and eventually plastic. Through the process, a completely different device was invented called the gramophone. It reads and records groves and melodies by reading the vibration of different sounds. There could be no better example than Emile Berliner to explain how much knowledge and insight one could gain from the process of problem solving.

In conclusion, by not just being concerned about the answer, you could experience discovery, confidence, or how to react to failures or times when you don’t succeed. But at times when people do not have enough confidence or faith in the process of solving a problem, they tend to just put more focus on the answer rather than the process. In order to reach a higher level of understanding of your problems and potential in problem solving, one just has to learn how to be more effervescent and more receptive to the process behind the problem.