What ever happened to the idea of teaching philosophy in schools?
More than 15 years ago, a report of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) identified “an existing gap in senior cycle education in the area of social and political sciences and in the area of philosophy”. Since then, the Leaving Certificate subject of politics and society has been introduced – it is 10 years old this year. But hopes of a philosophy course have been dashed.
Yes, an optional Junior Cycle short course in the subject was created but very few schools offer it. Out of 722 post-primary schools in the State, just 15 ran the philosophy short course last year. This was down from 24 schools the previous year.
Philosophy is taught at secondary level in a number of European countries, including France and Germany, and has been shown in studies to boost overall academic performance. More importantly, preparing young people to be independent thinkers capable of distinguishing between truth and bulls**t is an essential goal of education – and no other subject rises to the task better than philosophy.
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Or as Michael D Higgins once put it: “The teaching of philosophy is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to empower children into acting as free and responsible subjects in an ever more complex, interconnected and uncertain world.”
During his two terms as president, Higgins repeatedly called for philosophy to become a core part of Irish schooling. Why did his appeals fall on deaf ears? A review currently under way of the Leaving Cert politics and society course gives us some clues.
The subject aims to “develop the student’s ability to be a reflective and active citizen”. A worthy goal but, as with everything to do with the Leaving Cert, idealism must yield to practicality.
The existing curriculum features 17 “key thinkers”, the vast majority of whom can be categorised as left-wing. There is one conservative, Samuel Huntington, best known for his book The Clash of Civilisations; and one libertarian, Robert Nozick. The left-wing thinkers include Noam Chomsky; Karl Marx; Palestinian-American academic Edward Said; and Sylvia Walby who works on theories of patriarchy.
A consultation paper circulated by the NCCA last October said, “for many students, the key thinkers are the best part” of the course. However, the NCCA suggests some culling is required. (Expect Chomsky to be dropped over his close friendship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.)
Crucially, the NCCA said, special consideration should be given “to potential risks associated with including theories that may be at odds with a human rights approach”.
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This suggestion that potentially “risky” material be dropped prompted Cormac Hayes, a secondary schoolteacher of politics and society, to write to Unthinkable, having read a past column on “Foco”, or “fear of causing offence”, in education and wider society.
“As a teacher, I see the damage a narrow curriculum is already doing,” he says. “The NCCA’s proposal would only worsen this, denying them the rigorous, academic engagement with ‘difficult’ ideas that they need. We are teaching them to be afraid of encountering an idea that might be offensive ... I believe this needs a much wider discussion.”
The NCCA may be trying to minimise controversy in the classroom, but, if it acts on its concerns, it will also restrict students’ learning. The concept of rights cannot be understood without also appreciating the limitations of a human rights approach to morality.
Canadian academic Michael Ignatieff points out that, in many parts of the world, human rights are seen as part of an “elite discourse” that is divorced from how people typically think about ethics and justice. And you don’t have to be a conservative to believe there has been too much focus on rights and not enough on duties in western societies in recent years.
Jerome Devitt, who teaches politics and society at The King’s Hospital School, Dublin, and who was an early convert to the subject, says the curriculum should – and does – deal with viewpoints on the right and even far right. Students are coming across such views online and “to ignore this is insane,” he says.
However, he says, “this is not a philosophy course”, and regardless of how a teacher approaches debate in the classroom “the orthodoxy of the exam takes precedence”. This “does not mean you are teaching to the test” but “you are driven by what the [exam] paper says”.
This is the crux of the matter. The NCCA review may lead to a more sanitised course. But regardless of what changes are made, the scope for open-ended Socratic dialogue is crushed in the senior cycle by the weight of the Leaving Cert points race.
Prof Angie Hobbs, a global advocate for philosophy in schools, who was in Dublin just over a week ago for the Classics Now festival, believes every student should have “at least one hour a week of unassessed philosophy tuition” – the word “unassessed” is emphasised. “Given we have the Wild West on the internet, we need resources to learn how to disagree ... to be philosophical citizens,” she says.
Now there’s an idea. It implies there’s something more important than leaving school with 600 points – and that’s leaving with a good character and a healthy sense of wonder.
Discuss, as Socrates might say, if only he was let into an Irish classroom.
