Prior to the communications revolution most individuals, especially children, had little contact with what was going on in the big world outside their own very limited environment. Things are very different now. With a home computer, our clever children can find out about almost anything and see everything happening on TV. So what do they believe in as a result?
Tony Thorne MBE’s unusual book identifies many of the subjects intelligent children must be confused about today, e.g. religion, creation, evolution, even politics, and how most adults react towards them. Unlike many of their elders, clever children do not always make up their minds rapidly about things and then only look for that new event, or piece of information, which confirms what they’ve decided is right, ignoring anything else. They take everything in and try to analyse it logically and, as this book shows, their observations and conclusions can range from hilarious to deadly serious … as well as controversial.
Excerpt
Page 33
MINUTES OF THE SIXTH MEETING OF THE JUNIOR PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
on Saturday 20th. September
Present: Alf Brodie (Chairman)
Alan Charles (Secretary)
Mike Thomas (Member)
Joseph Baines (Member)
Fred Clarke (Member)
Minutes of the last Meeting: We didn't have one last month, because we were mostly all away on holiday with our parents. So the last meeting was the one we had in July. This time I did read out the Minutes and nobody wanted anything changed.
Subject: POLITICS
Why do we have to have this subject, Joe wanted to know. It's sure to be very boring. It's the most boring thing you can have on TV. I really think we should change it for something more interesting.
You remember what we said when we started these meeting, Alf said. If it does get boring then we'll change over to something else.
I said, Most grown-ups I know seem to think it's very interesting. They're always on about the government and what it's doing is all wrong.
Joe said, Anything grown-ups like is usually boring to us. I'd rather have The Future as the subject today.
Alf said, We're having that another time, and anyway, politics is just as much about the future as it is about things today. The government has to think about what's going to happen that's not good for the country, and then decide what to do to stop it happening.
Mike said he thought the politics of a party was like religion. The one you support depends on what you learn from what your parents believe in.
Joe said, That sounds like football too, and what team you support. Perhaps that means if you are in party politics you are supposed to believe in what the ministers of the government say is best for you and the country, even if they aren't doing it yet.
Alf said, My dad says some of them do try at first, to do what they promise before an election. The trouble is things happen to stop them, then they end up doing the same as any other party.
What sort of things, Joe wanted to know.
Mike said, They have something called a scandal. One of them does something wrong, then the ones not in the government say he must resign from his job. Usually all the newspapers say the same thing and you get pictures on TV of the different politicians shouting and looking very cross.
Mike said, Yes, and on all the time too. I think most of it is on after 9 pm. It's all very boring. All the party messages and discussions about them they have. I can't believe I'll ever be interested in listening to them when I'm grown up.
Perhaps the reason why we're not supposed to watch things after 9 o'clock is because of all the bad words they might say to each other, said Mike.
Alf and I laughed. Like the ones we learn from TV and films and other things.
Mike said he'd never watched a political programme long enough to hear any bad words. He switched one on by accident once in the middle of a big discussion round a big table. They were all shouting at each other, one big lady especially was getting very unhappy and noisy. Come to think of it, she did use one word which sounded bad. It made the chief one very cross. It sounded something like - showvinist.
We made him say it again, but nobody knew that word. We agreed it must be bad. I certainly couldn't find it anywhere in my computer thesaurus or dictionary, even though most of the bad words we know are in it.
Mike said, It seems to me that when something bad happens and the Opposition Party criticises the government party, it would be just the same if the government Party was the other way around.
We all thought about that and decided we knew what he meant.
Alf said, Politics is a lot like religion. There really must only be one religion or Party Policy that's really true, but everybody with a different one is sure his is the only one. So, perhaps there's only one party policy that's really the best for everybody?
I said, Yes, but what's best for rich people is not always what's best for poor people. Perhaps too, what's good for somebody today might not be so good for them tomorrow. Politics is all about knowing what's going to happen next in the future, so you can do something about it, before something unexpected happens to stop you doing it.
Say that last bit again, said Alf, so I did, very carefully.
Mike said, My dad says it's always unforeseen events that stop politicians from doing what they promise to do before they get elected.
Joe wanted to know what an unforeseen event was.
Alf said, It's something serious or important that just happens. An event for us can be anything from a birthday party to a big festival in the village. But it's things like a war or something serious happening to us all or in another country, or one of those big scandal things, that gives governments a problem they didn't know was coming. Anything that happens that they didn't expect.
Like the value of our money going up or down suddenly, I said. If our money goes up and all the other countries' money doesn't, then anything we want to sell to another country is more expensive, so they won't buy it.
Say that again please, said Joe, so I did, more slowly.
Then Joe said, But why would our money change? If I have 50p pocket money left, it would always be 50p. How could it change to be anything else?
Alf said, It doesn't change. It's only how much foreign money or other things you can get for it is what changes.
Joe wanted to know why they would change.
I said, It's all about what's called International Finance. If foreign people start to buy our money, then the price of it goes up. Or if they all start to sell it, then the price goes down. It's changing all the time. If it goes up too much, then people who make things to sell, can't sell them to other countries.
Alf said, They could if they made their prices lower, then they'd sell more to
us here too. They must still want to sell things, or some workers would lose their jobs because the companies wouldn't make enough money to pay them.
Joe said, I still don't get it, our money going up and down like that. I think my 50p must still be 50p to me, whatever happens. That's what it is, 50p! Look, I've still got one left from my pocket money.
That's right, Alf said. But if it did go down and then you wanted to buy something with it from another country, it would cost you more than before. Can't you see that?
Joe thought about it for a bit, then he said, But that sounds like it's because the money in another country has gone up. My 50p is still the same, it must be.
We all thought about that.
Then I said, I think I can see now why all the other people in Europe want to change to only one money! Perhaps we should too? But let's get back to ordinary Politics. Perhaps we'll understand more about International Finance better when we're a bit older.
Alf said, The kind of event that really worries the government is when one of their members dies or does something wrong and has a scandal, so he has to resign. I think this often happens, going by the newspapers. Each time they have to hold another little election for a new Member of Parliament. Then they lose because the people don't like what's going on, and don't vote for them. If they keep on losing, it could happen one day they don't have enough votes to make new laws or do anything they promised to do and still haven't done yet. That's what really worries them, especially when it's time to have the next big election.
Joe wanted to know what a scandal was.
I said, It's like when the newspapers find out one of them has a secret girl friend somewhere that his wife doesn't know about. Or even if she does. All the newspapers make a terrible fuss about it, because politicians are supposed to be good and honest and not make mistakes, so that the newspapers can find out about them and then make a terrible fuss.
We all thought about that.
Then Alf said, my dad says politics is like a lot of people in a rowing boat, without a rudder. He said they float on a sea of events with some of them rowing on the left side, and some on the right side. When there's a lot more of them on one side than the other the boat usually goes round and round in circles. All the time, the tide is taking them where it wants to anyway, even when some of them decide to row the other way!
Joe said, Lots of politicians seem very old. That must be why they keep dying. If they don't want that to keep happening then they should make it so that people can elect lots more younger ones.
I said, Perhaps they are young in the beginning, but they stay there until they're old and die, or until they have one of those scandals.
Fred said, I think the best kind of government would be where to become a politician you'd have to take examinations like we do at school. Then the best and cleverest ones would belong to one party and become one government. Even if
they didn't all agree about what would be best, when they voted on anything, there would be more chance of what most of them wanted being right.
Say that again, I said, so he did.
I want to know why they're called parties, Joe asked. I always thought a party was where you all had a good time and played all kinds of games with each other.
We all thought about that.
Then Mike said, Yes, it sounds the same to me too. Our parents pay for everything we have at our parties, and they have to pay Income Tax money to the government party.
We all agreed it could be why they were called parties, or why ours were!
Joe said, I'm getting really bored with this subject. How about changing to something more interesting? I liked Evolution a lot better last time we had it.
Professional Reviews
Tami Brady writes
The Junior Philosophical Society covers the minutes of meetings of the
Junior Philosophical Society made up of a group of pre-teens and diary excerpts
of the group’s eleven year old founder. These accounts are meant specifically to
educate parents and give them a reality check about what their children actually
know and the questions that these youngsters want answered.
The topics discussed by these children are quite surprising. Meeting topics
include everything from evolution, religion, and the beginnings of the universe
through time travel, space travel, and the supernatural to computers, the
future, and politics. Moreover, the children talk candidly about parental rules
of behavior, asking parents questions, and the hypocrisy of adult behavior.
I found reading The Junior Philosophical Society interesting on a number of
levels. As a parent, I was reminded that true parenting involves sometime
answering the difficult questions and engaging in conversations that I’d hoped
I wouldn’t have to deal with. However, this book also took me back to a time
when I wanted to ask the questions and was put off. Our kids have so much
curiosity and wonder nowadays, it’s truly amazing.
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