Our most forgotten question : Why ?

Curiosity is a trait that we see diminishing when people grow up and we talk about them getting "wiser" ?

Whenever I talk to a child, I'm struck by the number of times I'm asked "why ?"
I'm also struck at the number of times I'm NOT asked "why ?" by an adult !

How I wish we could all magically retain our ability to ask "why ?". To me, this is the most important question that needs to be asked and it needs to be asked first. Inatech is a company that does business consulting and it takes us a LOT of time to convince our own employees to ask this question. Unfortunately, either the Indian education system or the society has converted all the "whys ?" to "whats ?"

It is hard work to get an individual to ask the customer "Why do you need this process ?" instead of "What do you need done in this process ?" - thereby, missing the whole point of "NEED" ?

Maybe it is due to our education system that encourages learning by "rote". I do remember one of my own science teacher who said - "You do not need to know that to pass your exam" as a response to my question. (incidentally, ever since, She's lost all respect from the child in me)

Or, is it due to the societal pressure of accepting what is said by "elders" and not to "question elders ?". I can almost visualize the conversation - a child asking a parent "why is the sky blue" and the parent replying "Because, it is so" and adding almost casually "don't waste time asking obvious questions".

How many of the "elders" have the maturity to accept that he / she does not know and takes the effort to go and look up "Rayleigh scattering" or just "Why is the sky blue" in google / or an encyclopedia ?

Or, maybe we can also blame this on our famous Indian "fate" and quote like Lord Tennyson : "Ours is not to reason why, ours but to do and die" :-(