Piquing Children's Curiosity

 Rabbi Moshe Shapira Z"L was wont to say that the reason behind the seder was to bring out the "child who knew not how to ask." To pique his curiosity.

Ever so often in a pedagogic role, or a parenting role we are faced with that imperative, yet feel we do not have the skills, the tools, on a most elementary level to do so.

It would seem that the very act of eliciting the imagination of one without, or at minimum, helping one who feels he lacks imagination in rediscovering it hinges on a basic curiosity, about life, about the world around us.

As a teacher, one of the most painful – and harrowing – experiences is asking a student to partake in a class debate, and encountering absolute, unfaltering resistance on the part of the student. Believe it or not, more often than a fear of public speaking, or engaging others, a student will refuse to take a certain side of an argument because he cannot possibly conceive of it being grounded in morals, or ethicality. Interestingly, it's many a student, from all different backgrounds, who refuse to even argue a certain position even if it bears no obligation for them to actually believe it – as if merely by putting their "imprimatur" on it, they are thereby obligated to believe it in themselves.

Once I asked students about this dilemma. A family of very limited means cannot afford to pay the expensive entry ticket for Disney Land. From the age of 12 and under, the price is $50; above the age of 12, it is $75. "Can you make the case," I'll ask students, "for the one-child family to say that their child is 12 if he's just turned 13?" I think I know where I stand on this question, yet that notwithstanding, upon asking a 14, 15, 16 year-old student to argue the other side, i.e. that it is ethical, year-in-and-year-out, I'll have a student who will say "No, I'm not willing to make that argument! It's wrong, and I refuse to lie!" Or, "I can't sanction stealing!" to which I may respond, "But think about the family. Regardless, they otherwise won't be able to afford entry. Do you think, maybe Disney would want them to enter? They only stand to benefit."

The student will undoubtedly still refuse. I've never encountered a student who's been willing to change his view and actually argue a point that he himself disagrees with. Lamentably, the student always wins out; the tenacity of his resistance overcomes me.

 What, then, perhaps is the way to inspire the imagination of a child who does not seek to ask questions? It would seem to be through symbols, the narrative power of human stories, imagery that speaks to the heart. To tell over, tells the "Haggadah," to persevere. For the other sons, the text says, "Say to him;" for the child who does not know how to ask, you have to tell him!