They're called Azouaou, Abderhamène, Louise, Shana, Kyria, and Yanis. They're between 3 and 4 years old when they begin to openly discuss together love, liberty, authority, difference, intelligence... During their first years of nursery school, these children, pupils of the Jacques Prévert de Le Méesur-Seine school, in a special education zone in Seine-et-Marne, have, with their teacher Pascaline, been part of an experiment with a philosophical purpose.
Several times per month, sitting in a circle around a candle lit by Pascaline, they learn to express themselves, listen to each other, and get to know and appreciate each other while thinking about subjects that are usually dealt with in the French education system in the final year of secondary school. During these special sessions, there are no good or bad pupils, just very young children capable of thinking for themselves, using their own words, full of spontaneity, good sense, and poetry. And they sometimes often demonstrate an incredible civic spirit.
