Devi Kar | Why philosophy is crucial for young minds: It will help ‘think’ better

After having worked with children for the greater part of my life, I find that younger children in their quest to understand the world often ask philosophical questions. It is only when they are older that they become bogged down by the demands of tests, exams, co-curricular activities and so on. Consequently, the spontaneous curiosity to understand life and its meaning is suddenly gone. Still later, their time is taken up by career concerns and preparation for entry into appropriate higher study institutions. So, there is no time to reflect on the larger questions of life and only questions pertaining to their syllabus matter to them. Perhaps in their old age they will again feel the need to return to the questions they asked as children.

Who created the universe? How do you know that God is around when nobody has seen him or her? Why do people have to die? What happens after death? These and other myriad questions are asked and everyone would agree that it is quite a challenge to answer them. I remember being in an awkward situation when a little girl asked me whether God had created everything. Unsuspectingly, I said: “That is what most people believe”. “Then why do you scold me when it is God who makes the thoughts in my head!” I was nonplussed and didn’t quite know how to respond. But when I told my professor about this, he told me that it was simple -- I should have just said: “It is God who makes me punish you”.

These dialogues with children made me wonder whether philosophy should be taught in school. In fact, years ago we offered the subject at the higher secondary level until the time that there were no takers for the subject. Students (and their parents) felt that the subject was of no use for their careers. But somewhere in my mind I used to think that there could be simple philosophical discussions in class without any tests or exams. This idea was reinforced when I read Sundar Sarukkai’s lovely little illustrated book called Philosophy for Children. Sarukkai states that children should be encouraged to explore and question rather than just collect information.

This develops the imagination as well as understanding. Children also get to learn that everyone’s perception is not the same and therefore views differ. These are important things to find out when you are young, otherwise you may grow up to be narrow and blinkered. Incidentally, I read a brilliant book called Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, which beautifully demonstrates that philosophy can be explained through jokes!

An encouraging feature that the boards are introducing is open-ended questioning. This is associated with the study of philosophy as there are is no philosophical question that can be answered correctly or definitely. The student can only speculate and arrive at her own conclusion with the help of divergent and convergent thinking. Then they draw up a set of logical arguments to support their conclusion, which in turn can be refuted.

Teachers keep complaining that they are so busy trying to “cover” the syllabus and “clearing doubts” (school teacher jargon) that they don’t have time for other things. Someone commented: “Why should they cover the syllabus, they should uncover it.” But the recent attempt to trim the syllabus will help our teachers to encourage discussions which will lead to lively questioning in class and an engagement with the outside world. Prof. Krishna Kumar had mentioned (in Smaller Citizens: Writings on the Making of Indian Citizens): “…schools and colleges socialise the young to ignore the world or fear it rather than approach it with the passion to understand it or engage with it”.

I feel sure that nobody would recommend Philosophy as a formal subject in school. But what we can do is to take advantage of the natural curiosity of small children to understand the world (through exploration, play and continuous questioning) and make it part of each child’s learning. In other words, young people should not ever cease to reflect on the larger issues of life in their quest to ensure a good living.

Some students are fortunate to have teachers and mentors who encourage them to think freely and ask questions freely. These teachers do not immediately turn away from the child who has given a wrong answer but takes the trouble to find how the answer was arrived at. They ask questions which have no right or wrong answers and they value the opinion of every child and see that no question is perceived as “silly” and no answer is laughed at. 

One young student asks: “Why is Buddha called a saint? He left his wife and child in the middle of the night and didn’t even tell them that he was going.” It needs a very competent teacher to make a child understand that for some people sacrifice for the greater good is more important than family. Another child feels that protecting one’s friend is important for her and even if she is appointed the class monitor, she would never report her friend’s wrongdoing to the authorities. Tackling these significant issues in an open-minded way -- that is without imposing one’s own views -- amounts to teaching philosophy to young minds.