@Theaetetus,
Holiday20310401;15446 wrote:Should there be philosophy courses in high school? Does it seem ethical?
Lets pretend that there would be enough students interested unless you think otherwise, like me.
Philosophy allows for intellect instead of the gathering of knowledge which I see students lacking. All I hear my classmates talking about is a reflection of the MSN conversation they had yesterday, or that game that just came out on xbox. So I believe that innovative advancement could potentially slow down. English class, to me isn't really good enough. It deals more with formal logic which always ends up dealing with books that have been analysed for the past 100 years anyways. We need debates and informal reasoning, its much more fun than memorizing formulas or reading books that I could read on my own time at home.
Highschool is an opportunity for teens to be all together in a classroom, there isn't any other place where that happens, so why no take the opportunity for us to argue our opinions and gain eachother's insight while coalesced.
Does philosophy class seem ethical to you?
I think that it would be fantastic if they taught Philosophy in school, however, I feel more strongly that Philosophy (in the sense of living philosophically) and Ethics is something that is more strongly the responsibilty of the parents to try to instill value structures (hopefully non-biased, but likely not so) into their children. It seems like no one knows what "raising" a child is anymore. They sit them in front of the T.V. or computer and let the media teach them. I think sex ed. should be taught by the parents too, but that's another thread . . . . .
Not only would Philosophy and ethics be a great thing to learn, but I think that they can gain a lot through debate of the subjects. It's as they say . . two heads are better than one. They could also be shown some examples of how this Philosophy would apply to everyday life, so that maybe it will all "stick" in their heads.
GoshisDead;15459 wrote:Some high schools have philosophy courses, of course, most do not. The main reason I would assume that high schools avoid formal philosophy is that it is not practical or trade driven. The trend in modern education, especially in America, is towards vocational teaching. The core college prep curriculum is still maintained but non core classes are less and less abstract and/or artistic.[1]
At the peril of ranting, the third reason philosophy is probably not taught in high school is because unlike sciences humanities and vocational classes there is no definitive right and wrong when it comes to testing. In a different vein, unlike the arts, formal philosophy cannot be judged on pure aesthetic theory. Thus the evaluative testing/performances required by state and federal law become very difficult, especially if philosophy is taught right by the teacher and practiced right by the student.[2]
1. He's right. No one teaches anything to anyone in America that someone can't make money on. I wish they would just teach, so we could know . . . and that's all. Not just so we could pass a test, look good on paper, so we can get into college, work 9-5 in a crappy job my whole life so I can pay "the man" . . grow old and die. . . . .I feel like there's a lot more to life then fueling this type of cycle.
2. This is why I mentioned practical application.
urangutan;15470 wrote:....I don't know Holiday. I don't feel that learning philosophy is reading Plato or Socrates and understanding it. I don't imagine that any of them were great philosophers at sixteen and being philosophical is more of an awakening than being indoctrinated.
I imagine that it would be wiser to teach children philosophically rather than teach them philosophy. It could be applied to a broader spectrum of education.
That's a pretty good idea, then maybe we'd have more people that care more about things that aren't themselves (in a shallow sense) and $$$$$. I think we'd have a lot more well-rounded, thinkers. . . instead of ignorant texters.
Victor Eremita;20771 wrote:It's probably not safe to discuss theological questions in high school; besides that, survey courses in metaphysics, epistemology, and history of philosophy are good non-politically charged topics.
My city's school board has an agreement with one of the universities. Grade 11 or 12 students can take Philosophy 12 and learn metaphysics, epistemology, and the history of philosophy from Plato to Derrida. When they pass the final exam, they earn transfer credit for 1st year philosophy. (this was probably the selling point for keeners to get ahead in their studies lol). . . .
That's pretty awesome. Wish I went to that school. My Junior and Senior years, I had 3 different music classes. I started and ended every day with a music class, or I probably would have skipped school more. (I wasn't such an advocate for learning then . . only learning what I wanted) My school had a good music program and reputable sports teams . . .but that's it.
Correct me if I'm wrong though, but doesn't the word "theological" deal more with "god theories" and religion. That's all I see in "theological studies" section of every bookstore I've ever been in (and I worked for 3 of them). In that case . . keep that crap out of school. You shouldn't try to teach faith . . you should just come into it in your own way . . . outside of public. It's a very personal thing. . . Please tell me if there's more to this than what I'm seeing. I wouldn't want to be the ignorant one, in this case!:rolleyes:
Theaetetus;21279 wrote:A basic logic course should be taught in high school along with a survey course that pertains to the history of philosophy. The class would pretty much be structured like this: here are a bunch of philosophers that lived during these dates. Here is what they had to say. There is no reason why this could not work in a pre-college school setting.
Ethics is another subject that could be taught to advanced high school juniors and seniors. Hell, everyone should be trained to look at many different perspectives ethically. Maybe people's interpersonal relationships would improve as a result.
True. I feel that the Philosophy course would probably be just like you say . . . such a square solution to what could be a very "open" thing . . . sounds like just what they would want for the class.
Not saying that that's so bad . . . better than nothing.
Ethics is the job of the parent, but they're sucky at their jobs sometimes.
urangutan;21283 wrote:. .. . . Most students do not go on with an education for the myriad of reasons that exist, of which less that do, will continue the line of study that you so wish to enrich them with and your only point of salvation is that an even less percent will ever read again but they can be counted on, to look at the work that they do read in a different light.[1] .. .
. . . why wait till the end to enlighten them, when you can show them the path to enlightenment the whole time[2].
1. Sad but true
2. :cool: :a-ok:
