Foucault taught to Y12. I need some help please

[Thatsinteresting]

I have received an email from school that Y12 will be looking at Foucault's theories on Power. This in itself isn't a huge issue but the video they have been sent to watch does say that he also wrote about sex and sexuality. The teacher always signs off he/him and so I'm wondering if he is subtly trying to introduce queer theory. I know that Foucault was a child rapist who wanted to remove the age of consent but I'm wondering if I should say something to school and if so what?

And this is where you and I will disagree NotBad. My own teen would never challenge such at thing and I would not want them to. In Year 12, they were 16/17 and having experienced the teachers at their school, at least one of the teachers did not maintain professionalism in Sixth Form. There was also an activist teacher we came across in GCSE level as well.

So, while it is great to arm them with knowledge, we found navigating sixth form was tricky and I was pretty much hands off. But my teen felt they were constantly walking on eggshells already about that teacher. It would have been incredibly hard to challenge him on anything.

Thank you everyone. I do love the sensible discussion that can be had here, always very helpful. I don't have an issue with the discussion around power, I'm more concerned about the teacher being a 'fan boy'. This lecture isn't course related, it's a lunchtime drop in for all to attend to widen their world view.

I do understand that lots of historical figures are problematic. I feel that there needs to be a little more time/ distance between Foucault and his work being taught to 16 year olds. I would expect his work to be taught to uni students. I'm not suggesting he is 'cancelled' more whether his work is appropriate right now for that age group.

I always encourage my dc to speak up for themselves but currently at 16 they are still not considered adults so I don't think it's unreasonable to be interested in what they are learning. I attend parents evening so I can find out how they are doing

I'm impressed that Foucault is being taught at that level of education - we hear so much about students leaving school with poor numeracy and literacy skills, and also without much training in critical thinking, so a good dose of French post-structuralism should give their critical faculties a good work-out
I think 16-17yr olds are impressionable adolescents,BTW.

It is worth knowing that Foucault advocated, with others, for the decriminalisation of all 'consensual' sexual relations between adults and children. This fact is significant when assessing Foucault's analysis of power, including the power of adults over children.

It doesn't automatically mean that he was wrong, or should be cancelled, or 16 or 17 year olds shouldn't study him, but it is valid to add to the critical analysis of a theory the way in which the lived experience of the theorist may have influenced, or been influenced by, the material being studied.

As I write that, I'm beginning to think that that is quite an advanced level of analysis for 16 or 17 year olds, and maybe it would be better to focus on generic skills of critical thinking and analysis, which they can then carry forward into future, more detailed studies of writers like Foucault if they go on to university and take courses that include post-structuralist theory?

A lunchtime drop-in on Foucault? OK, that does sound weird. I was all ready to be impressed that they are teaching such complex works so early as part of the curriculum- but I’m struggling to see why this is being held as a drop-in unless it’s part of a regular “politics club” or “philosophy club” or similar.

16/17 year olds are the very definition of an impressionable adolescent

I'm impressed that Foucault is being taught at that level of education

I know, I'd be suspicious, is it a sort of sleight of hand by a pronouns haver to use this as an attempt to "queer the classroom". It seems a bit on the young side for this.

("Queer the classroom" is a known phrase used by gender ideologists by the way, this is something openly pushed for).

@Helleofabore The issue is that a university they might have a fan boy lecturer- and that is much more difficult to deal with. At least at 16/17 they’ll talk to you about what they’re studying, and so you can discuss/gently challenge. The only real difference between 16/17 and 18, is that 18 year olds think that they’re “fully grown” adults and so know everything.

When a predator seeks to groom they do not come straight out with their intent to abuse. They start off seeming very reasonable, their ideas has merit and their actions altruistic. They may have standing in their profession or community. It is this reasonableness, this respectability, this promotion by others that means that when they start to push their dangerous ideas their victims fail to challenge and think they must be acceptable because everything else they said is so reasonable.

This is what this teacher is trying to do.

"As I write that, I'm beginning to think that that is quite an advanced level of analysis for 16 or 17 year olds, and maybe it would be better to focus on generic skills of critical thinking and analysis, which they can then carry forward into future, more detailed studies of writers like Foucault if they go on to university and take courses that include post-structuralist theory?"

Particularly for a 'drop-in lunch time session'.

Hmm, I don’t like the ‘lunchtime drop-in’ aspect of this. While in principle I'm in favour of any learning at any time, it also means it’s being done off-grid. Are off-grid classes common at the school, and if not why would a teacher start with Foucault?

Lunch time drop-in?!

I would ask for the lesson plan even for a drop/in session and how it’s structured. They need to be self contained one-off lessons if it’s a pop-in.

I would be direct with specific questions.

On a lighter note - I've just remembered a phrase used on a previous thread - and indeed printed on t-shirts and mugs -' Foucault Addled Grievance Gerbils'.

Of course OP I'm not suggesting that you barge into the Head's office loudly asserting that 'No child of mine is going to be turned into a Foucault-addled grievance gerbil, if I have anything to do with it!' but I can't read the name
'Foucault' without thinking of that phrase
Not quite the reverential ideological genuflection his name evokes in other circles!

Or maybe 'Has the pendulum swung against Foucault' ...

(Sorry, I can never resist that one)

As a pp noted, he’s had huge and enduring influence with the postwar humanities as taught in the West. He captured the complexity of western thought as it it emerged from the ideologically driven modern period. I’ve worked in universities for nearly 30 years now. He’s not marginal.

It does sound as if the teacher is introducing Foucault in an activist kind of way. He is one of the father's of post modernism, from which Queer Theory/Gender Identity Theory arises; and given that the teacher uses pronouns, it seems a dead cert to me. Any bet he'll steer the class discussion towards 'Gender Identity'.

Could be kind of an LGBTQ+ lunchtime club........

Yes, best to introduce sessions/lessons on critical thinking first. You cannot approach philosophical theory until you are first able to think and engage critically.

Yes! 🙌

You can't really avoid Foucault when it comes to the social sciences and his work on power, mental health and criminality are fundamental to the understanding of those areas in academia. Even areas of his work on sexuality, such as historical and cultural context are important to how we view sexuality today.
It does become a problem when we censor knowledge based on the individual. As pointed out, through the lens of hindsight would we block the study greek philosophy, we were go as far as expelling Simone de Beauvoir from feminist studies because she also advocated for the removal of the age of consent in France.

It does become a problem when we censor knowledge based on the individual.

How about Mengele’s contribution to medical knowledge?

Cancelled?

He'd be in charge of a least one department of the BBC and if found out, would be let off with a suspended sentence.

One of my daughter's teacher training schools had an LGBTQ+ lunchtime club, run by a trans identified male teacher. The school is an all girls school, and some of the girls attending were very vulnerable; and others obviously just 'out' as gay. This teacher was actively suggesting to some of the girls that they "might be trans".

Have you met many 16/17 year-olds? They are definitely mostly impressionable and of course they are adolescents!

@WarmingClothesontheRadiator The thing is, and this is truly horrific to think considering the context, Mengele didn’t actually contribute anything particularly interesting. In my field (psychotherapy/psychosocial studies) we keep trying to eliminate Foucault and end up with a giant Foucault shaped hole. It’s not just his work, it’s everyone who influenced him or critiqued him. Even if he’s wrong (which he is much of the time), he’s enormously important. It’s like trying to get rid of Freud-who, of course, had his own issues. He’s not just some bloke.

Heather Brunskell-Evans is an excellent source for a radical feminist interpretation/analysis of Foucault, for example:

savageminds.substack.com/p/was-foucault-a-paedophile