The benefits of learning 'philosophy' at school
Hello everyone! How's it going? This is teacher Asuka.
Today I'm going to talk about a film called 'Young Plato', which is about philosophical thinking in a boys' primary school in Northern Ireland. I have already seen the film and I was so touched. I would definitely recommend that you watch it if you're interested.
In this film you can see a large dividing wall called the 'Peace Wall' as well as the cityscape of Belfast many times in the film. This is not only a historical reference to the fierce conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, but the local people see it as a symbol of friction.
For this historical reason, the headmaster, Kevin, teaches philosophy as a core subject in his school. He believes that by learning philosophy, his students will be able to make wiser choices, have their own thoughts, control their emotions and maintain peaceful relationships. His way of solving problems gives us a lot of tips in terms of philosophical thinking and the way of communicating in school.
The thing that impressed me the most was that whenever their students had a quarrel, Kevin always took them to his room for reflection and contemplation to rethink and not do the same thing again.
Watching the film, it seems that not only 'soul-searching', 'contemplation' and 'tolerance', but also 'deep thinking' are the most powerful weapons when it comes to maintaining peace and security and not causing conflict.
Thank you for staying with me as always.
See you next time.
Teacher Asuka