The Focused Student: The power of electives, philosophy
In checking school websites and particularly public school websites, one elective I have not seen often is philosophy. Philosophy can be such a broad subject including morals, ethics, honesty, virtue and wisdom. It is taught by some private schools under a different name or themed by the type of school such as Christian/Catholic schools. Philosophy is defined as “the love of wisdom.”
To find out more I checked in with my good friend and philosopher, Dr. Joe Puglia — at Starbucks, of course. Every conversation with Dr. Joe is philosophical and lively, but make philosophy itself the topic of conversation and you’re in for an interesting session.
Of course with any good philosopher a question gets answered with one or more questions.
“Why study philosophy?” I asked.
“What makes life significant to you? What do you live for beyond the day-to-day routine?” he replied.
Now I had to think a little about that one.
“You mean, Dr. Joe, that philosophy makes you think? But I just want to be told about philosophy. I didn’t come to you to think about philosophy,” I said.
He continued to pepper me with questions — questions that made me think about and deploy logic, past knowledge, perceptions, objectivity and evaluations. I was trading in moral standards, values, integrity, pride, justice, identity and consciousness.
When I got back to my office I had an opportunity to reflect on our conversation — and that’s another aspect of philosophy: reflection and contemplation.
Research has shown that students who take philosophy are better able to dissect literary ideas and express those ideas in clearly written papers and oral presentations. The discipline and techniques of philosophy help mold those who become the best scientists, lawyers, public servants, volunteers and CEOs of companies. They give purpose and meaning to their jobs and are able to pass that on to others because of the skills they acquired and developed in a philosophy class.
So what is the best age for a student to study philosophy? Aspects of philosophy can be incorporated into the curriculum from early childhood, but it’s high school where students have the optimal combination of inquisitiveness, experience, and ability to reflect and where studying philosophy can have its greatest and potentially lifelong impact.
Far from being an academic abstraction, philosophy is a subject that’s relevant, important and imminently practical.
Why teach philosophy as an elective? Think about it.
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ROBERT FRANK is the executive director of the Hillside School and Learning Center in La Cañada. He holds a master’s of science degree in special education and has more than 40 years of teaching experience. His column appears on the last Thursday of each month. He can be reached at frank@hillsideforsuccess.org.
