How Far Down Does the Elephant Go?: Unfinished Conversations with My High School Students

Coming out of eight years teaching at a high school in Auckland, New Zealand, this book explores big questions that teenagers themselves generated in Christian Education classes and in a course called Theory of Knowledge in the International Baccalaureate Diploma. In thirty letters to his students, Hugh Kemp addresses their big questions, noting that many conversations are unfinished and that "we grow in the direction of our questions." All the letters are creatively generated but do represent real questions that students actually asked, revealing the inner lives and priorities of twenty-first-century teenagers. Kemp demonstrates a warmth and love for his students but also a critical edge, always challenging them to examine their assumptions, to see "how far down the elephant goes."