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Cllr Andrew Mennear |
Deep thinking: Children as young as five to be taught philosophy in trial scheme
FEW five-year-olds – or 50-year-olds – can tell you the philosophies of Plato, but that is about to change.
Camden’s schools chief, Conservative councillor Andrew Mennear, has backed a trial scheme at two primary schools to encourage children as young as five to discuss the scholastic whys and wherefores of philosophy.
Nestling alongside more traditional primary school activities such as storytime and colouring in, the Philosophy in Primary Schools programme is already being taught to children in Years 3 to 6 at Eleanor Palmer School in Tufnell Park and at Fleet Primary in Gospel Oak, for Years 1 to 3. Cllr Mennear, of the Fitzjohns and Frognal ward, said lessons debating the meaning of life, ethics, and metaphysics would “help underscore the meaning of words” and improve literacy levels among school children.
He added: “I think the national curriculum is over-prescriptive. Education should be about learning and discovery and it’s well known that young children find it much easier to think about new concepts. I’d like all our children to come out of school with a great general knowledge.
“I finds it very difficult to think philosophy is the worst subject to be taught in schools. I learned some philosophy at uni’ and it wasn’t my favourite, but then maybe I didn’t start early enough.”
But chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, Nick Seaton, said: “Schools have enough to do teaching the basic three Rs without worrying about philosophy for children at that age.
“Schools should concentrate on building a foundation of knowledge for youngsters.” |
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