We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.

Posted August 7, 2022 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

It’s that time of the year for college students and parents when attention shifts from summer jobs and internships, sunscreen and flip flops, concerts and s’mores around the firepit, and the joys and struggles of family time to back-to-school preparations. For both students and parents, this can be quite stressful. While there’s excitement in the air for the new beginnings that await, there’s the concern about being ready, about having all the right stuff.

As everyone freaks out over S hooks, cool headboards, lofting beds, and securing last-minute items at Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Amazon, there are questions about which classes and professors to have or avoid, what books to buy, and where to find fun items and services to surprise your kid, like local gift cards, birthday cakes, spa services, and tickets to athletic events. But what if someone told you there’s really only one thing you need to take to college, and you either have it in you or you’ll need to work on cultivating it these next four years and for the rest of your life?

I’ve been at this back-to-school thing for 47 years, 27 of which have been returning to teach college students. One thing I know for sure is that students benefit from having one quality when they venture off to college, and that is curiosity. Curiosity is that desire to discover new information about something never before explored as well as an interest in knowing more about something one assumed they already knew a lot about. Curiosity involves inquisitiveness and a willingness to ask questions to find out more. By expressing and acting on our curiosity, we make meaning of complicated ideas.

Curiosity is about asking how and why and digging deeper. It is about taking risks and going to the edge. Curiosity is about relying on inner resourcefulness. Inherent in being curious is the chance of something going wrong, perhaps of epic failure, but accompanying that is the recognition that more was actually learned and gained in the process.

Curiosity is a quality we can cultivate to bring to our daily activities, our friendships and intimate relationships, and literally anything we do. It’s a state of mind that involves imagination and creativity. It’s the temptation to look behind the closed door, to peel back the layers, to unlock the secrets. In my discipline of sociology, there is the understanding that things are not what they seem and deserve a much closer look beneath the surface at inner structures, processes, and dynamics. It’s a passion for finding out truths—not truth with a capital T, but multiple truths and complex realities. We can bring our curiosity to things and experiences in the world around us, and hopefully also bring that curiosity back to understanding ourselves better. I try with all my might to pass on to my students the magic of these various levels of uncovering, as this is what college is all about.

Nothing makes me sadder than when I witness students—and even parents—asking if they need to purchase required books, or if attendance is really necessary, or how the least amount of work can be done for the best grade. And, of course, there’s always the question of what are the easiest classes and who are the easiest professors. The thing is that curiosity runs counter to that line of thinking. Curiosity is an embracing of that which is multidimensional, and this line of questioning is flattening and deadening.

There’s a humanness, an aliveness, that comes with being curious. If there’s one thing I would love to see more of in this generation of students, it’s curiosity. In future posts, I will write about a few other qualities that students would benefit from cultivating as they venture off to college, including commitment, courage, and communication. In the meantime, as you find yourself stuffing and zipping those IKEA blue storage bags with more clothes than will likely be worn, with linens that may not be changed for a semester, and with a medical supply kit that rivals the stock at the local pharmacy, remember that curiosity is what will help you succeed, and more than that, it will support you in living your best life.

Deborah J. Cohan, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort where she teaches and writes about the intersections of the self and society.   

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We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.