To think that children of 14 are too young to be studying philosophy?

[roastlamb]

A friend of mine recently moved to Italy with her two girls, aged 14 and 12.

The 14 is in her first year of "liceo" and she is studying philosophy. I understand that this is part of the curriculum in Italy. However, 14 is far too young to understand the concepts being taught.

I had a hard time with philosophy in my early 20s, I couldn't imagine studying it as a teenager.

[WideWebWitch]

lol Senora

[Aitch]

i can't remember any of it, Senora. but i can tell you that kerry katona is Not In A Good Place, if that helps?

[SenoraPostrophe]

lol. but it's in there, somewhere, aitch, mitigating your perception of Kerry Katona's woes. I bet you didn't read the article thinking she was a silly old slag did you?

[Ledodgy]

Ahh I loved Sophie's World and Jostein Gaarder's other books Fabulous for teens.

[sfxmum]

to OP no it is not too early it is more about teaching to think rationally systematically employ a critical view bla bla ( can see it taught me to build an argument) never too early to have the tools to start questioning.

started philosophy when about that age and ws frankly surprised it is not in the curriculum here
ws even more surprised to see that GCSE RE is more philosophy < head spins>

[Aitch]

oh no. she's quite young, afaik.

[Ledodgy]

At least they'll be able to have deeper conversations when they're stoned.

[Aitch]

yeah, man.

[Blu]

I MN therefore I am.

[Descartes]

Oui, man.

[Ledodgy]

[Ledodgy]

[sparklyfairypie]

www.p4c.org.nz/

yabu

[ecoworrier]

What an odd question. Why on earth shouldn't teenagers, or children for that matter, learn about philosophy or even just talk about philosophical things without knowing it's philosophy.

It doesn't have to be at degree level or anything does it, we can all have a view on philosophical things.

My son goes to a philosophy club at school which has been offered to a group of students from right across the age range. He was 12 when he first attended, and the others range from Year 7 right up to sixth-formers so you get a real mix of views and characters. He has really enjoyed discussing lots of different things and the way in which the conversations/debates have been allowed to develop freely. He has enjoyed hearing other people's views and expressing his own and it has got him thinking more deeply about some subjects and questioning what he thinks or why he thinks that.

Brilliant idea.

[purpleduck]

i think studying it is fantastic.
They may not "get" the concepts fully, but sometimes these things percolate in our brains for a bit, and she will "get" it when she is ready.

Also, its great to expose her to different ideas, and encourages her to THINK!!!

[agnesnitt]

Unreasonable. Philosophy is fascinating, and there are moves afoot in certain parts of the country to use certain areas of philosophical thought processes into primary classrooms.

The more we teach kids to actually think for themselves the better

Agnes

[scottishmummy]

Philosophy is an enriching, stimulating subject.wholly appropriate for a 14yo

[TeenyTinyTorya]

In my local area, philosphy is taught to children right from the start of primary school, but it really kicks in at around age 7 or 8. I think it's a good thing and encourages thinking skills - YABU (sorry!).

[castille]

It depends entirely on how it's taught. My DH did philosophy at that age at school and hated it, because instead of discussing concepts, they had to rote-learn the (often v complex) ideas of French philosophers, and regurgitate them in exams.

If that's what the girls mentioned by the OP are doing, then I can see the problem and no, YANBU.

But if they are being encouraged to think about philosophical concepts for themselves, then yes, YABU.

[scaryteacher]

I went on a P4C (Philosophy for Kids) seminar at an RE teachers' conference and it was fascinating...lots of the Citizenship I taught was based around the idea of a community of enquiry, and tackling the 'big' questions.

Philosophy isn't necessarily regurgitating the ontological argument or wrestling with Kant or Hegel, but is about thinking itself and about questioning things. I loved it when a lesson went totally off course. I once spent an RE lesson with a year 7 group off task, discussing why God is always referred to as male. Some of the ideas the students came up with were fantastic and far deeper than I'd thought they could achieve. They all sparked each other off, and although we didn't achieve the lesson objectives, I felt they had learned something, and so had I.

YABU, I so wish they'd introduce this into the UK curriculum and not leave it to teachers to sneak it in where they can. I did ask if we could do it instead of Citizenshit (that's NOT a typo) and when told no, wrote a scheme of work incorporating it as much as I could. Much more useful than studying planning objections to a new football stadium in Liverpool.

[NappyValley]

14 yr olds are learning to think for themselves which is the foundations of philosophy. YABU I think.

[geek3]

My 7 year old ds got 2 philosophy books for xmas - aimed at children and discussing things like vegetarianism,perception and beliefs. I have to say they are excellent books and my ds loves them. They are written quite brillantly and easy for chldren to understand and introduce the basic ideas of looking at many points of views and never trying to sway the child to one way of thinking, just getting them to THINK of many different perspectives. I, myself have found many of the topics fascinating.

Of course not all young children will find it intersting as all children are different but for those that do, I certainly would not discourage reading philosophy due to their age.