The Death of "Why?"

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1: Inquiry Is Risky, Resilience Is the Reward, and Other Lessons from Childhood

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO TEACH BABIES TO ASK QUESTIONS,” Dr. Gwenden Dueker told me. “If they could ask why at birth, they probably would—and once they can say why, they say it all the time. They are constantly exploring and picking up information.”

Dueker studies infants and how they learn to categorize the things they encounter. From her post in Grand Valley State University’s psychology department, she spends much of her time observing babies and the ways that parents interact with them. When I interviewed her on the telephone, I could hear her eleven-month-old baby in the background. I wondered what it was like to have a newborn when your business is studying newborns. ...