Abstract

Children are born with enquiring mindset. They keep on asking questions to explore, understand and take part in their environment. However, modern educational systems discourage persistent enquiring questions. Most students, graduating from college, can use their enquiring faculties only to solve problems at hand. They accept the theories taught as the final models for the laws of nature. They safely assume that no further deeper enquiry is needed. This is a disturbing collective tendency counter to our continuously evolving nature. We should also consciously train our minds to evolve continuously by persistently asking enquiring questions. Therefore, we suggest that we take pro-active steps to re-energize the enquiring mindset among our young professionals by organizing enquiry forums for students from all international Student Chapters during most of our optical society meetings. Panels of volunteer senior scientists should encourage deep enquiring questions from the students. In this paper, as examples, I will present a set of enquiring questions in the field of optics that we have been underscoring to students. This is one of the three papers by this author for this conference, ETOP 100-43. Since scientific content-wise they complement each other, the readers should consult the others. They are: ETP100-36, "Consequences of repeated discovery and benign neglect of non-interaction of waves” and ETP100-83, and "Demonstration and implications when 50% beam combiners can behave as 0 or 100% reflector/transmitter inside some interferometers.”

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