The Fountain of Youth

DD has been reading and studying the book Tuck Everlasting for literature. It's an interesting book, and the study guides have raised some difficult, but interesting questions. They've been a little over her head, though, and the abstract thought required to answer them is beyond her.

We've focused on discussing the questions, rather than worrying about the written answers, and for some of it I've basically just let it go. After all, there are bigger fish to fry than whether DD gets the concept of immortality. When asked what important thing someone could do for the world if they lived forever, her answer was, "recycle." When asked what she would do if she could live forever and do what she wanted, her answers range from "swimming," to "play a board game," to "get an education and get a job." (this would be the "What I think Mom wants to hear" answer) Her mind cannot fathom forever.

Now that they've come to the conclusion, the final assignment was to interview 8 people, 2 from each age group, and ask them, "If you could drink from the Fountain of Youth, would you? Why, or why not?" Problem #1 was helping her explain the question clearly to the interviewees, but once we got past that, she was able to write up their answers.

Then she has to answer the following questions:

What were some of the most surprising things people said?
"R's Grandpa said yes, R said yes, and K said no."

What were some of the similarities or differences you found among particular age groups?
"A lot of people say no sometimes and a lot of people also say yes."

Well that pretty much covers all the bases, doesn't it!