Stories

I have written before about how my encounters with our youngest students are interesting and often very amusing, and I was recently asked a question by one of these students that made me again realize how fertile and sophisticated their minds are.

It was just before our holiday break in December, and I was walking by the early school playground to get lunch. As often happens, a group of students gathered to talk with me. At one point a student came over to the fence and asked, “Mr. Marblo, are you real?”

At first I laughed. But I soon realized this was a serious question. When I convinced her that I was, in fact, real, she nodded, seemed satisfied with my answer, and went off to play with her friends. But I could not stop thinking about her question.  

Children think deeply about the mysteries of life. They are not afraid to wonder and ask why. They have very few preconceived notions, which is liberating and essential to their intellectual development. Maybe this student was having conversations at home about whether Santa Claus was real or how things that happen in the movies are just representations of real life. Regardless, she was thinking about a very big philosophical idea – the nature of reality itself. (Gareth Matthews’ book on the subject of children and philosophy is worth exploring if this topic interests you.)

I am still thinking about this student’s question. Perhaps I was too quick to answer as there were so many layers of inquiry embedded in what she was asking. We need to take the philosophical musings of children seriously and encourage these deliberations, as challenging and profound as their questions often are.