Experience
as a teacher
I had
the opportunity to teach philosophy for children (P4C) in an experimental class
in Tehran.
Philosophy for children is an educational approach to
critical thinking that have been largely developed and practiced in societies
such as the US and Canada.
I
conducted a class consisted of ten grade-four/five students from
different elementary schools. After few months I noticed that students attending the program started comparing
the values that this program taught them with the values that they received
from the sanctioned Iranian educational system. For example, one of the
students told me that in her history class, when she criticized her teacher’s
claims about a historical feature, the teacher got angry and treated her badly.
The student asked me why her teacher was not willing to discuss the issue with
her the way we discussed things in the P4C class, and thought that she was
right and the student had to accept her claims.
In the
typical classroom, they were taught to be obedient and never question the
authority of their teachers and books.
In contrast, the P4C program taught them that everyone can make
mistakes, and they shouldn’t accept anything unless there are good reasons for
it.
Having encountered several such cases, I realized
that the children
attending the program commonly experienced internal and external conflicts. However,
while the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that P4C teaches are compatible
with children’s interest, such knowledge, skills and dispositions run counter
to the social norms and ideology of the society in which they grow up. This experience led me to this question:
what is the good of learning to think critically when the knowledge, skills,
and dispositions that P4C teaches are seriously at odds with the social norms
and rules, and conformity with these norms and rules is also part of children’s
safety, career prospects, and well-being? This question made me stop doing P4C
in Iran and motivated me to purse my graduate studies.
My take away from this experience is to be aware of
the impact of what we teach as educators on students’ lives, not only in the short
term, but also in the long run.
I commend you forvteachingbin this fascinating program, and for considering the effects of context in the children's learning. It is a very difficult, even dangerous thing to teach and learn critical thinking in a sociopolitical context where dissent is not tolerated. We have had a taste of that currently in Canada, which used to have a reputation for reasonableness and open-mindedness (unless, of course, you were an Indigenous person or part of another oppressed group).
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the answer is, except to help kids learn that compete obedience is not always a good thing, and to gel them use all their abilities and resources to try to live well and with integrity. Not an easy path for sure!