ONE GOOD QUESTION

This nonfiction book takes an inquisitive tour of the education landscape and provides a tutorial in the art of asking questions.

Broussard started a blog in 2015 entitled One Good Question in which she engaged in wide-ranging interviews with prominent members of the education community. Over the course of those exchanges, she developed an increasingly precise sense of what constitutes a truly good question, one “that wasn’t leading, that didn’t tip my hand or reveal my beliefs, that didn’t force students to defend a single position, nor one that did not allow them to respond solely with anecdotes and opinions.” As the author astutely observes in this thoughtfully provocative book, the devotion to produce results in education can diminish the “luxury of time to reflect,” which can be disappointingly counterproductive. The interviews cover a remarkable stretch of intellectual territory, from art education and STEM to issues like poverty and the value of a college degree. Broussard is a talented interviewer, and as a result, the discussions she assembles are both lively and edifying. Furthermore, she furnishes a sweepingly global perspective that includes examinations of education programs in Bangladesh, Finland, and New Zealand. The author’s own expertise is beyond reproach—she is a Pahara-Aspen Institute fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leaders Network as well as the 2014 recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship for International Leadership—and her impressive breadth of knowledge is constantly evidenced by the interviews she conducts. Moreover, she captures with both great lucidity and concision the nature of inquiry—she implores readers to consider the full contexts of questions, including the biases they may include. As a “professional inquirer,” Broussard pushes her interviewees to “make mental space for unanticipated wonder”—in other words, to not only pose questions, but also embrace the surprises they may engender. This is a delightfully stimulating contribution to the debates about the future of education.

A probing and absorbing look at education and the nature of intellectual investigation.