If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in my short time as a Munk One student, it’s that the program is full of incredibly (intimidating) intelligent people. This is most evident in Professor Wong’s class. Debates become heated, Professor Wong’s almost too convincing “devil’s advocate” comes out (he issues several disclaimers during the discussion that he “doesn’t actually think this way”), and we are all forced to face a harrowing moment of truth: we don’t know everything.

A common phrase he uses to provoke impassioned discussion is “what if I told you that you’re wrong?” which is followed by furious heads nodding in agreement and aggressive hand waving in rebut. Being faced with the potential to be wrong is relatively unfamiliar in the scope of Munk One students and our experiences, as our entire high school careers have relied so heavily on the idea of knowing. For a group of young, ambitious individuals, not knowing is terrifying. We are forced to exist in the state of the unknown.

In class discussions, some of the most profound conclusions are to not come to any conclusion at all. In traditional classrooms, not knowing can lead to your ultimate academic demise, but in the Munk One program not knowing drives you to work harder, think bigger, innovate further. At Munk, knowledge, or lack thereof, is a beautiful thing.

Students raising hands in discussion