Renaissance Woman in the 21st Century

From as far back as I remember, I wanted to be a renaissance woman. I found myself curious about everything. So when asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I wouldn't have a specific answer. I wondered, why couldn't I have the opportunity to explore all fields, and then decide. How could I make the decision without even knowing what the different subjects entailed? How would I find out if I was good at them or not. I couldn't understand why one could not learn about everything. Why could one not be introduced to all the different subjects, topics, and fields? Why did we have to choose one or the other?

Although growing up I somewhat did start understanding why we had to make this choice, I still couldn't help but curb my burning curiosity about all the things that I saw around me. And from this need came the desire to want to know how things originated, the history of all inventions, and discoveries. I just felt I wanted to know the root of all of man's discoveries, and really understand how we got to our modern age today from our prehistoric selves.

So of course, I delved into my own learning and self education project to understand the basis of everything from science, history, technology, war, politics, economics, and all things far and in between. And this led me to understanding the details of this complex world we live in today.

And I found out that today’s education system destroys curiosity, and the wildness of the learning process. Hence it curbs and narrows the student’s point of view when actually we need multidisciplinary problem solvers today. Because, let's face it, the world is not one dimensional, and so we should not train ourselves to be. The world is connected, and so are all subject matters.

It may seem that renaissance people (or multi potentialities or polymaths) are not focused, and are wasting their energies, and are distracted. And that they may not be able to achieve all things with expertise—that's what people think about them—the jack of all trades, and master of none attitude is what people hold towards such people.

But that's not true, because at the base of all their learning is curiosity and reasoning skills that aid them in acquiring all kinds of subject matter regardless of the field. And this is what can help them acquire all of this information and not be overwhelmed. The desire to learn itself halves the burden they may otherwise face from stress.

And the willingness to face failures, and to not quit during the learning process is what gives resiliency and grit, which have been considered the top most characteristics in achieving success in learning new subject matter.

This has made me realize that being a renaissance woman is possible even today, as opposed to what I've been told by people or society. I've understood that the common thread that keeps all the multitudes of topics of study together is your curiosity level.

Learning these subjects in order to derive something practical, applicable and relevant to you makes all the difference in you retaining what you learn. But above all, your questioning of each subject is what enhances your problem solving skills in the real world. Forming questions and solving problems lies at the base of Renaissance learning. That's why many of the thinkers of the past were philosophers who had prominent questions, and constantly sought their answers.

If we teach our children and students the art of thinking and reasoning, and allow them to have their curiosity run wild, without the fear of failure, only then can we have real learning. And this learning is what can transform the human race one individual at a time.