Thinking and listening.

While driving between interviews I happened to catch this amazing segment on Radio National about how young children are being taken through a process of philosophical inquiry.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2009/2542653.htm#transcript

According to Stephan Millett: What a philosophical inquiry does, is to first ask, what might this person be meaning? What are the possibilities of meaning that are inherent in this statement? Don't presume that at the outset your first take on it is the right take. I think that kids are an enormously rich resource for learning. Now I mean that in the sense that my job as a teacher isn't just to teach them how. I learn from them at the same time, so we actually engage in a learning community. The kids have different takes on things, they have different understandings, and their view might come to me as something completely fresh. And having a learning community, where it's a form of democracy, where voices are allowed to be heard, and I think when we hear the voices of our children, and we listen attentively, we listen very carefully to what they might be saying, and give them the time, and at least assume, prima facie, that they have something of value to say, then I think we can have a much fairer and more equitable society.

The audio of this show is wonderful: listening to 8-10 year old children discussing the nature of reality, the role of beliefs and imagination in a considered way is really delightful.