"what if?"

I just thought about something. In the 4th grade, one of our teachers told us that we were not allowed to ask "what if?". Can you believe that? I guess I understand the desire of an old teacher not to be bogged down with questions she couldn't answer but to actually say .. "do not ask what if" now seems absurd to me. Isn't this what we do everyday. Yes, we may not verbalize it, but we are constantly questioning the consequences of our actions. What if I don't study hard? What if I say this? What if I eat this?? What if...what if...what if... now the processing is occurring at such high speeds it is hard to actually dissect out each time we ask this question throughout the day, but it is there. Secondly, at young ages that is how dreams begin to formulate. What if I was a rock star?? How cool would that be!

Moral of the story...don't limit young minds...enough of that will happen with time and experience.