We aim to bring nuance to the language and practices of curiosity and mindfulness in education. We suggest that, although these concepts have much to offer, they can also be problematic if applied uncritically. For example, the unqualified endorsement of curiosity fails to account for the ways in which questions are themselves the product of social values and political investments. However natural and well-meaning, some questions have the power to entrench racist, sexist, and ableist assumptions about ideal knowers and ways of knowing. Likewise, mindfulness in the classroom can feel trite and stilted when practiced on command. It can also model problematic appropriation—with predominantly white, economically and socially privileged, Western teachers acting as authorities of centuries old indigenous and non-Western practices. Here, then, we aim to discover and offer a framework for critically challenging and enriching the concepts of curiosity and mindfulness within the context of education.
