The perspective of what it means to be childlike and for P4C-representatives child-philosopherlike is firmly embedded in adult assumptions and desires about how child should be.
Philosophical meta-enquiries, however, make it possible to discuss such features and to read
against the text through philosophical questioning. Thus, the role of the teacher in complex thinking is paramount, and not the text itself. The implications are that we need to give up the idea that children represent the opportunity for adults to carry out their ideals and to accept that
there is no determined relationship between text, experience and truth. The teacher who is exposed‘ does not scaffold existing truths, but problematises the relationship that both learners
and teachers have to truths in which they are already installed (Kohan 2011: 346). The choice of text can hinder or support this experiential process of bringing something new into the world.