Question Partially inspired by some responses on this website, I am currently pursuing teaching licensure toward the eventual end of teaching philosophy at the secondary school level. However, a cursory canvass of philosophy professors from the local university and some on the internet via their blogs has left me slightly disheartened about my future career choice. They argue that philosophy cannot (or perhaps should not) be taught to pre-college-aged students because their abstract reasoning faculties are not yet adequately developed. In other words, they claim that philosophy could never be effectively taught at the secondary level because students (for the most part) are not yet biologically ready for philosophy. How do I go about discovering whether this objection is sound or not? And can the panelists specifically share some of their own experiences with teaching pre-college-aged students about philosophy in regards to the aforementioned objection?

Accepted:
August 7, 2009

Comments

I certainly think that high school juniors and seniors can learn the basics of critical thinking, ethics, and philosophy. I have breakfast semi-regularly with a teacher from a private high school who teaches philosophy to his students. He'll be teaching Plato's Republic to his seniors this year. So, I do not doubt that high school students have the capacity to comprehend philosophy.

However, it has also been noted as far back as Plato's Republic that older students are better equipped to study philosophy. This claim also seems correct to me. Even most college age students lack the life experience to understand the importance of philosophical issues. In contrast, I once taught an ethics class to 30-40 year old nursing students.... this was an unusually positive teaching experience since they took the course very seriously and understood its relevance.

My biggest concern for you would be whether there are any jobs available to teach philosophy at the high school level. It is hard enough to get a job teaching philosophy to college students. I would guess there are far fewer jobs to teach philosophy in high school.