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| Some of the IPO 2012 Int'l. students at Frogner Park, Oslo. |
I am the American Delegation Leader to the IPO and, therefore, the source of the data from the USA. Because of the limitations on my volunteer organization (essentially me at the moment) and time, I supply what information I have at almost a moment’s notice off the top of my head to the IPO. I have just done this for a page that we are creating on the organization of teaching philosophy in high schools around the world. But this blog post, more than a report, is a request for help from my countrymen who are working to advance the teaching of philosophy in schools before university.
One of
my colleagues at the IPO in Oslo last month asked me the following question. “Why is it that in a country (the USA) that
has such an important and creative philosophy profession, there is so little
philosophy taught in the high schools?” It is an embarrassing question. It
has to do with our culture, our educational system, and, actually, with some assumptions
made by some of our very own professional philosophers! But, fortunately, some
of us are working very hard and, I’d even say, dedicating our lives to changing
this. I remember a conversation I had with Matthew Lipman in the mid 1970’s at
Montclair State College. He was mentoring me as I was teaching a course in
Philosophy for Children to fifth graders. They were the early days of the
Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. He told me that
children already have genuine philosophical questions. We teachers have to help
children pursue their questions by giving them the language and method to
discuss them well. And, by listening carefully and following their train of
thought while gently guiding them in a true line of inquiry. This is also real
Socratic dialogue. It seems to me to be irresponsible of the adult community in
our society not to help our young develop the true philosophical thought that
they are already struggling to pursue.
But, as
I have said, this post is a request for help. Please read what I have supplied
(below) to the IPO Webmaster and send me information that you think should be
included. You can do that by commenting at the end of this post or by emailing
me at JoseLuisMurphy@gmail.com.
Thank you, colleagues!
The actual request for information from the IPO came in the
following form of topics on which to respond.
“A. TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY IN HIGH SCHOOLS: (yes/no)
B. COMPULSORY/OPTIONAL:
C. NUMBER OF LESSONS PR. WEEK + PR. YEAR:
D. ORAL/WRITTEN EXAMS:
E. BASIC OUTLINE OF CURRICULUM:”
The
following is a version of the information from the USA that is being added to
an IPO Wikipedia page. This is how I responded to the IPO request today.
Organization
of Teaching Philosophy in High Schools
Overview
from Participating Countries at IPO Oslo 2012
TEACHING
PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN (USA) HIGH SCHOOLS
There are no national or even state
required philosophy courses taught in high schools in the USA. There are some philosophy
and ethics courses taught in some high schools across the country, but they are
created and taught by particular schools.
Two
examples of schools in which philosophy and ethics courses are taught are the
following.
Dwight-Englewood
School in New Jersey
Ethical
Culture Fieldston School in New York
There
are, however, groups or associations that have as their mission to create and /
or promote philosophy and / or ethics courses or clubs for high schools. Here
is a very brief list of some of them.
The
American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Pre-College Instruction in
Philosophy http://www.apaonline.org
and PLATO-Pre-college Philosophy, a facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/244397402239159/
The
Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State
University in New Jersey
The
Squire Family Foundation, Advancing Philosophy Education
