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I was frustrated by some of the rules and felt that the members of the Board of Directors should each come and live there for a week, so that they really knew what it was like. I shared why I thought Jane Addams lived at Hull House, based on my personal experience living in a shelter for a month (although I didn't share why). Others said that "she liked it and it felt like her home" and that way "she's there in the moment to help out." I asked the children, why do you think that was so important to her? One little boy spoke up and said that it was like how the Goat Lady told people, sleep in the barn one night and make sure it's comfortable, because if it's not comfortable to you it won't be comfortable to them. We were particularly taken by the fact that she lived at Hull House. We read The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli and looked at catalogues for Heifer International.Īfter some time for the children to write and reflect in their Philosophy journals, I told the kids about Jane Addams and her work at Hull House. One child volunteered that she had just had a breakthrough with another little girl in our group and told us, "We are really good friends when no one is watching." (or who they initially thought was compassionate and then they saw another side to that person). I asked the children if they'd ever experienced meeting an older person who they thought was selfish and then they had an experience where they realized the person was actually compassionate We also talked about whether, if people are naturally compassionate and are taught to be selfish by the people they're around when they grow up, there's a time when you're "locked in" to being selfish or if you can change. One child gave as his reason why, "the way a baby smiles at you." Another girl stuck to her opinion that the answer is "neither" and that people are born a complete blank slate, then become who they are based on their experiences. Most of the children concluded that people are naturally compassionate. Last week I asked the children whether it was possible to act compassionate without really being compassionate and one little boy immediately said, "Yes, that's what sarcasm is." What an astonishing insight.
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Yet I have found again and again that kids love to grapple with these REAL questions, to have conversations where no one is allowed to interrupt them and where their insights are equal to the insights of the world's greatest philosophers.
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Yep, this is one of the BIG questions of Philosophy! In our Philosophy lesson today (topic: Compassion) we discussed whether humans are naturally selfish and we are taught by society to be compassionate OR whether humans are naturally compassionate and we are taught by society to be selfish.