We have to be awakened to the ethical and political meaning of our experience—emotionally as well as conceptually—before we can sense, and then articulate that there’s something wrong with it.
Ann Sharp, P4C co-founder
What is the first part of politics? Education. The second? Education. And the third? Education.
Jules Michelet, 19th century French historian
If you feel connected to the future of this country, and if you feel responsible for the future, then you need to care about reconciliation, for the sake of the future of this country…Education has gotten us into this mess, and education will get us out.
Sen. Murray Sinclair, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Education is a value-laden endeavour. There is no abstracted and neutral socio-political “view from nowhere” from which we can teach. And with every choice teachers make in the classroom, we wittingly or unwittingly effect a particular reality. From the topics we choose to cover, to the books we choose to study, to the voices we choose to suppress, ignore, tolerate, or elevate, teachers are on the front lines of systemic change. This is a solemn responsibility.
The third core competency of British Columbia’s curriculum is called “personal and social” and includes three sub-competencies: personal awareness and responsibility; positive personal and cultural identity; and social awareness and responsibility. In my previous two posts on “communication” and “thinking” I have covered some of the aspects of this core competency – this is not a surprise, since the core competencies overlap and intertwine. In this post I want to focus on social awareness and responsibility:
Social Awareness and Responsibility involves the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of connections among people, including between people and the natural environment. Social Awareness and Responsibility focuses on interacting with others and the natural world in respectful and caring ways.
BC curriculum on “social awareness and responsibility”
Philosophy, which has been around for millennia, might erroneously be interpreted as “stuffy”, “conservative”, or “stuck in the ivory tower.” Yes, there are aspects of the discipline which are pathologically staid; but these aspects (often Euro-centric, for what it is worth) do not define philosophy. Philosophy, fundamentally, is about challenging and interrogating reality. This extends to philosophy in the elementary classroom. Because P4C encourages the critical and thoughtful interrogation of students’ environments, it also encourages (without coercing) an inclination to social justice. The interrogation of one’s existence and environment cannot help but lead to more questions about justice, fairness, and morality.
By setting children on a path of philosophical enquiry early in life, we could offer them irreplaceable gifts: an awareness of life’s moral, aesthetic and political dimensions; the capacity to articulate thoughts clearly and evaluate them honestly; and the confidence to exercise independent judgement and self-correction. What’s more, an early introduction to philosophical dialogue would foster a greater respect for diversity and a deeper empathy for the experiences of others, as well as a crucial understanding of how to use reason to resolve disagreements.
Michelle Sowey
Teaching is a socio-political endeavour. We can choose to ignore this reality, or we can facilitate students’ coming-to-grips with it. P4C offers an incredibly effective framework for this. Teachers are not neutral agents; a claim of neutrality is itself value-laden. Philosophy does not tell students what to think; rather, it encourages students to interrogate the past, present, and future, to question everything around them, and to explore the nature of both themselves and their world.
This has important implications for Sen. Sinclair’s call to action with respect to education and reconciliation. P4C, using the power of story, metaphor, and discourse offers a way for students to meaningfully grapple with Canada’s immensely damaging colonial past and present. It is one thing to tell students “this was/is wrong”; it is quite another to have them understand why it was/is wrong, with reference to the concepts of justice, fairness, and morality. Such understandings are a small but meaningful step on the road to reconciliation.
Resources:
Murray Sinclair: Education is key to reconciliation: https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/kairos-canada/2016/06/murray-sinclair-education-key-to-reconciliation
BC curriculum on the Personal/Social core competency: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies/personal-and-social
Teaching philosophy to children? It’s a great idea (Michelle Sowey): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/teaching-philosophy-to-children-its-a-great-idea
Philosophy for Children in the British Columbia Classroom 