Saturday, September 23, 2006

idea


every child i've ever taught has been blocked. i say "what do you think" and they shrug and say "i don't know"

they think they have no ideas.



i just spent the afternoon talking about an imaginary animal with a bunch of 7 year olds.

one child kept saying "but they don't exist" and i was getting increasingly annoyed with her.

then another child said "yeah, but they can exist, they just move so fast that you can't see them"

then another child said "just because you can't find them doesn't prove they don't exist - they could be in one place and you could just be looking in the wrong places"

then another child said "the animal is just like god"

then i realised that the child who denied the animal's existence simply didn't believe in the animal and my irritation with her melted away.

then asked them what would happen if i rubbed the animal off the board and they said it would die.

one child said it wouldn't die because it would be alive inside her.

i asked what would happen if she died.

she said it would die with her.

i asked how they could prevent the animal dying.

another child said "we need to keep telling other people about the animal"

i told them that the animal was an idea.

and asked them what would happen to their ideas if they didn't tell them to anyone.

and nearly started crying in the middle of the classroom.

am i having a nervous breakdown?

3 comments:

The Reverend said...

That is one of the best things I have read in a long time. I do not think you are having a nervous breakdown! I think that is one helluva existential lesson that touches on the nature of spirituality and more. Shit these kids are clued up. You mean God is just an idea kept alive by the re-telling of the idea. If you believe in it, it lives in your heart and if you dont well you just dont? Oyvey!I think I am having a nervous breakdown now, do I believe in the animal? I do and must tell the world! "I BELIEVE IN TRENTOS IMAGINARY ANIMAL BUT IT HAS A DIFFERENT HEAD" Oh shit Holy War!
Stay sane an remember sanity is just an idea too...

David Trent said...

ah thanks the reverend.

and thanks too to you johnwarner2966066915 for takiing the most spiritual thing that's happened to me in the last 10 years and turning it into a marketing opportunity. you must hate your mirror.

David said...

that there seems like the perfect advert for the teaching profession. Lucky you.

A Number