WINNING BRINGS JOY!!! DOES IT?🤔

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The above statement does not seem to hold true for this bunch of kids!😊


During a session with 4th A grade students of MindTree Ambala, there was a discussion on a game we played ‘Who am I?’ In this game, we are asked to guess a profession in a person’s mind by asking 10 questions to him/her to which answers can only be in Yes/No. 

Till date, I consistently facilitated this session with more than 6 groups. However, this group was the one that had a completely different take on winning. These kids were to guess a profession I had in my mind and surprisingly they guessed it only in 5 questions! Instead of celebrating their win, these kids doubted it. They were wondering whether they were allowed to win by me rather than they actually did it themselves. They waited after the session to clarify whether I changed the profession in my mind to let them win. I asked them what’s the problem if I let them win? To which they responded, ‘It is not something we achieved but something you gave us, we do not wish to win that way. We know that elders let us win, which we are not really fond of.’ In a way, these kids touched on a philosophical question of ‘WHAT IS IT TO WIN?’ Now can you imagine that from 9 years olds? 

I tried to give my reasons for not cheating, very common of a naive facilitator to accept the blame & defend oneself and obvious to which they were not really satisfied. For quite some time we had a good chat on both the possibilities- I cheated on them & I did not cheat on them along with evidence & reasons. 

We in CTK are glad when such kind of dissatisfaction pops up since we believe that the beginning of knowledge lies in doubting & enquiry. Anything that seems satisfying on the surface but has different layers of dissatisfaction under it develops an attitude of a genuine search for truth. As the French Philosopher, René Descartes states - “Doubt is the origin of wisdom.”

-Sawani, Facilitator at CTK

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