A friend narrated an incident that happened in Ibadan, Oyo State. He said a woman after cooking handed over a plate of food to her child. The child asked his mother “Where should I put it?” The mother replied, “Go and put it in the toilet!” The child went to the toilet and placed the plate of food on the floor of the toilet. The woman surprised that his child did not understand the irony in her words, unleashed lashes of words and cane on the child.

Children are natural philosophers. Their curiosity and inquisitiveness are underlined by assumed ignorance. But these curiosities and inquisitiveness are largely suffocated and buried by basic schooling with their programmable class grooming and at home where they are expected to conform to certain established norms.

Children do not assume they know. The assumption of knowledge is dangerous. A disease that must never be allowed to set forth and germinate. They only assume they are surrounded by those who know better than them — parents, teachers, guardians and family members.

Even when they know, they will still ask. When they do not know they will ask. To them, everything needs to be questioned. After all, philosophy is about logic. critical thinking, questioning and curiosity.

But in most cases, what they meet from the society is opposed to what will enhance and cultivate their curiosity.

When I was an undergraduate, one of our lecturers, a Prof., would tell us that “If you ask me any nonsense question, I will send you out of the class”! We knew he meant it! He created a climate of fear for students who were in school to learn. Students who had questions to ask him had to first ask themselves if their questions would not qualify as nonsensical in the eyes of the Prof. His class thereafter was full of listeners, not students.

Society as a whole must be eager to accept the curiosity of children and ready to encourage their appetite for questioning and unravelling mysticism.

Afterwards, the same society wonders why critical thinking is becoming a luxury that a tiny minority possesses in our society.

Society kills curiosity in children and blames them when they come of age for lack of creativity, inquisitiveness and critical thinking. We shot them down for asking ‘too many questions’ as kids and got appalled at the manifestation of the disease that was planted in their upbringing curricula.

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nancy266:
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