There are three reasons you think a subject matter is boring.
- You’re not in the right headspace to absorb it. Tired, stressed, distracted.
- It isn’t in a realm of knowledge/insight that is attractive to you. We all have subjects that interest us more, especially as time goes on and we follow our interests further down a path.
- It isn’t presented in an engaging way. You are being presented with interesting ideas in a boring way.
I believe that we all have wide, deep curiosity about the world, and that it needs to be fed and encouraged more, especially in school.
As an educator, I work to diminish #1 as best I can (by helping students get into the right headspace.) I almost always work with students already interested in the material I teach. And I go out of my way to target engagement with my students AND to assess their engagement regularly and adjust accordingly.