I attended a philosophy class in Omaha and sat among a group of second graders. Eighteen people, three white and fifteen black children, this is a poor elementary school in Omaha. The two sat on the navy blue carpet, leaning against the wall. The children formed a very irregular semicircle against them. The reason for the irregularity is that as long as you are in this classroom and around here, you can sit wherever you want, or you can not sit, stand, lie down, or lie down. As long as you listen and participate, you can also stand up and walk around twice.

When Professor Y and I arrived, the class had just begun. The teacher wrote four questions on the writing board with a large pen and was counting the number of people who were interested in these questions. Questions are raised by the children themselves. Just ask whatever you want to know. The questions are as follows:

1. What are famous philosophical quotes? 2. What is the university like? 3. What is real? What is untrue? 4. What is powerful?

The statistical results are: only one child is interested in the first question; nine children are interested in the second question; five children are interested in the third and fourth questions. Two teachers said that the minority obeys the majority. This class will talk about the second question: What do you think university is like? You can also start from this question and go off topic, as long as it is related to college, tell everything you know, tell everything you are curious, confused and want to know.

Raise your hand before speaking. The teacher holds a small ball in his hand, half red and white. You raise your hand and the ball is thrown to you. You can only speak after you catch it. After speaking, other children raise their hands. You can pass the ball to whomever you think is appropriate, and the child who catches the ball will speak. After you finish speaking, the ball is also passed out. If you suddenly still have something to say, raise your hand to ask for the right to speak. There are children who are eager to get the ball. When they get it, they find that they have not thought about what to say. They scratch their heads in embarrassment, pass the ball out, and ask for it again when they remember. During one class, this group of children were chattering and talking about whatever they were thinking. The ball was passed back and forth between the teacher and the eighteen children. The pass is often missed, and the kids on the outside stand up and chase it. A kid next to me kept raising his hands but couldn't get the ball. He was so tired that he fell on the ground. Once he started passing the ball, he raised his hands as if surrendering. I raised my hand for him, caught the ball and handed it to him.

Various speeches: The university is like a big city. There is everything in inspirational novels for college students, and you don’t have to go anywhere in the world if you stay in them. I am in university, because there are many trees in the university and they all look good-looking. I like college because the playground is big and there are many basketball hoops. I want to play basketball every day. I like university because there is a library with many books. Only by going to college can I get a good education. Only by getting a good education can I find a good job. I can make money at a job, so I don't have to wash dishes for my mother all day long. My father now does heavy work every day because he never went to college. Once I finish studying, my mother won’t have to work so hard. If my dad had gone to college, he wouldn't drink every day like he does now. My grandma said that as long as I can get into a good university, I can buy good clothes. After going to college and getting an education, I can do what I want. When you come out of college, you are a knowledgeable person and you know what a good person is and what a bad person is. Yes, just know what is true, what is false, and what is truly vital. With knowledge, I can help those in need. I want to study law and tell others what they can and cannot do. I want to go to the university and check it out. I heard that the university is very good, but I haven’t seen it.

The teacher asked: "Do I have to go to college to get an education?"

Everyone answered together: "No!"

"You have to go to college to become a good person "?"

"No!"

"Okay, why? Let's continue."

Another variety of reasons. They also began to argue with each other. Because of the mistakes and because I couldn't grasp the English pronunciation of some children at once, there must be many errors in the recording of information, but these are irrelevant. The important thing is that many of their expressions were unexpected to me, not because of the good reasoning, but because of the angle of the problem, that extreme and romantic angle. There are honest words, but more remote and heartfelt words. Such a philosophy class is far from what I imagined. Ms. Y, a tenured professor in the philosophy department, told me that her two teaching assistants were teaching a philosophy class to second-grade children. I didn’t realize what kind of philosophy class could such a young child take? Everyone knows that philosophy is a difficult and abstract subject with a lot of laws, theorems and hypotheses. The word "philosophy" immediately reminds me of an old, withered face with crisscrossed gullies, of the poor classics, and of countless people telling me what the world is like, what this thing is like, and how you should do it. (Story.)

But for second-grade students, philosophy is not knowledge, and there is no conclusion, no imperial edict or final judgment, but a process of thinking and searching: first of all, it is free and full. Self-expression is to say what comes to mind and speak your own words; secondly, it is the way to gradually penetrate into the world. For many years, when I understood philosophy, the first thing I excluded was "human beings". I almost believed a priori that this was a subject without a "human touch" and could only be regarded as abstract principles and logical inferences drained of flesh and blood. "Philosophy".

I like it only in a speculative sense, in the essay on the meaning of thinking games and the meaning of life. At other times, I stay away from it and fear it. However, those thoughts and feelings happen to come from our very bones...

Think about it, and then laugh at yourself. At the end of the year, I suddenly discovered another "philosophy" among a group of second-grade elementary school students. For many years, I have equated philosophy with conclusions and theorems that have nothing to do with "people". I always felt that I had to grasp the dry results to get it right. It turns out that this is not necessarily the case. The process of search and self-expression of this group of children is also very "philosophical".