Their names are Azouaou, Abderhamène, Louise, Shana, Kyria, or Yanis, and they are between 3 and 4 years old when they start to freely and collectively discuss love, freedom, authority, difference, intelligence…
During their early years in kindergarten, these children, students at the Jacques Prévert application school in Le Mée-sur-Seine, within a priority education zone (ZEP) of Seine-et-Marne, have experimented with their teacher, Pascaline, in setting up a philosophy-oriented workshop.
Several times a month, seated in a circle around a candle lit by Pascaline, they learn to express themselves, listen to each other, know each other, and recognize one another while reflecting on topics usually addressed in the French school system at the… high school senior level. There are no longer good or bad students during these special moments: just very young children capable of thinking for themselves with their own words, full of spontaneity, common sense, and poetry. And they sometimes already demonstrate an incredible civic spirit…
