<p>Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Prompt:
"Do people need to "unlearn," or reject, many of their assumptions and ideas?"</p>
<p>As the great Albert Einstein once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it". In a sense, all learning stems from the voluntary rejection of ones' implicit assumptions in favor of ideas that better describe our world, evidenced through childhood psychology and the basis of science itself. </p>
<p>Young children, as many psychologists are quick to highlight, learn through the process of observation. Hence, to young, quickly developing minds, the rejection of certain ideals forms the essential basis for learning. During the so-called preoperational stage of infant development, all babies initially believe that objects literally cease to exist after vanishing from their sight. Although this quality makes games such as 'peekaboo' entertaining, the necessity of a better understanding of the world begins to establish itself. Infants eventually learn to eschew the notion of 'out of sight, out of mind', eventually establishing the concept of object permanence. It would be exremely challenging and incorrect to believe in a world without object permanence, which illustrates the profound importance of being able to reject many of one's assumptions and ideals. </p>
<p>The idea of 'learning to unlearn' is not confined to the earliest stages of human development: it is a fundamental tenant of the scientific method. The most essential principle of scientific progress is that many assumptions and ideas must be willingly abandoned in the presence of those that better explain the world. In the realm of physics, for example, the traditional model of physics was overthrown by Newton's classical model of physics, which then i turn became obsolete in the wake of Albert Einstein's special and general theories of relativity; amidst each shift in scientific thought was a willingness to reject the world that preceded it. As Copernicus and Galileo showed back in antiquity, a society that is reluctant to reject traditional concepts impedes its own progress. </p>
<p>There's a certain idealism in the idea that tradition is the corpse of wisdom, but a careful analysis of history and society reveals its truth. By rejecting their assumptions and ideals, individuals learn to grow up and move society ever forward. </p>