Sunday, October 16, 2011

Reply to the Kid That Asked About God

So, on October 5th, one of the students in the class that I'm student teaching in asked me about whether I believe in god. I agreed to give him some sort of answer on October 12th. This is the answer that I gave him: "I went to a mosque when I was little. I don't go to a mosque anymore. That's all I can say." This kid was smart and he didn't make any further assumptions from that. However, other kids were not quite as cautious in making judgments as he was. Another student overheard and said "So, you don't believe in god then." You're putting words in my mouth. I didn't say that. Anyway, their curiosity subsided.

In retrospect, my dad had the right idea. He suggested that I should have been a little more forceful in not giving an answer at all. Instead of saying "I went to a mosque when I was little. I don't go to a mosque anymore.", he thinks that I should have said something more like "That is a topic that I can't talk about and I will say nothing else about it." As far as that being less risky is concerned, I think he's correct in phrasing my answer that way. At the same time though, I assumed that giving that kind of answer would have just made that student even more curious. Why? Because I'm making it seem so secretive, and hence, special. In the end though, he would have had to give up his interest in whether I believe in god. So, perhaps I should have just stayed steadfast in not giving any info with respect to that topic. Oh well... doesn't seem to have caused me any harm.

I think this is all that I have to say on this event.

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