Reflections on Philosophy Classes for School Teachers
An Interview with PLATO President, Thomas Wartenberg
Since 2010, Thomas Wartenberg has led several Summer Seminars for School Teachers on Existentialism sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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[icon icon=”comments-o” size=”large” color=”#0066bf”] PLATO: Why did you decide to offer philosophy training for middle and high school teachers?
Tom: Although I have been involved in pre-college philosophy for 20 years, before 2010 my efforts had centered on elementary schools and, in particular, using college students to facilitate philosophy discussions based on picture books. Because of my involvement with PLATO, I started thinking about expanding my involvement with pre-college philosophy. I realized that my efforts could have much more impact if they were centered on teachers, as each teacher influences a large number of students each year. After hearing from the teachers themselves at our PLATO conferences, I recognized that teachers desired assistance in approaching the philosophical texts they wanted to expose their students to. There appeared to me to be a real need to support middle and high school teachers in their efforts to teach students philosophy.
[icon icon=”comments-o” size=”large” color=”#0066bf”] PLATO: Why did you pick Existentialism as the focus of your teacher-training classes?
Tom: I decided to make Existentialism the subject of the seminar for a number of reasons. First, I remembered that Existentialism was the first school of philosophy that had interested me as a teenager. It was while teaching Camus’ novel The Stranger one summer that I remembered that my first introduction to Existentialism had been his Reflections on the Guillotine, which I had read in junior high as part of my preparation for a debate about capital punishment. (Like Camus, I was arguing against it.) That book stirred my interest in philosophy, which I pursued on my own by reading Sartre and others in Walter Kaufman’s classic anthology Existentialism: From Dostoyevsky to Sartre.
I also realized that many high school students were being exposed to Existentialism, which they reported to me in my college course on the subject. But I also discovered that their understanding of the school of thought was neither deep nor particularly accurate. And while the dramatic writings of the Existentialists are quite accessible, the philosophical texts they wrote are often very difficult to understand. I thought I could provide high school teachers with a background that would enable them to teach the texts they were teaching more effectively.
[icon icon=”comments-o” size=”large” color=”#0066bf”] PLATO: What was your experience of running these classes for teachers?
Tom: When I met with the 16 teachers in my first seminar in 2010 – most of them high school teachers but some middle school teachers and even one from elementary school – I didn’t know what to expect. What I discovered was revelatory. The teachers were the most serious and dedicated students I had ever taught. They realized that they were being given a great opportunity and they did everything they could to take advantage of it. I didn’t have to encourage them to read the assignments; they came to class each day brimming with enthusiasm and full of questions they had about what they had read. It was a very welcome change from the routine of teaching college students, many of whom weren’t really sure why they were in class.
I also discovered that the opportunity provided by the seminar had a very beneficial impact on the teachers. I hadn’t realized how stressful the job of teaching was these days. As a privileged college professor, I found the idea of teaching five or six classes a day and going home to face grading a hundred student papers unfathomable. This daily grind wears teachers down. The opportunity to talk with other smart, like-minded individuals about ideas rather than schedules truly energized them.
[icon icon=”comments-o” size=”large” color=”#0066bf”] PLATO: Why do you think philosophy seminars catered specifically to school teachers are important?
Tom: Especially at a time when philosophy departments across the country are being down-sized or even eliminated, we need to think about how to bring more students into our classrooms. The NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers are an excellent way to do this. Each fall, when I meet with other directors of these classes, I am surprised to find myself the only philosopher offering one. I hope my brief blog will encourage others to do so as well.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is now threatened by politicians who vow to eliminate it completely. I find this completely baffling. A program like the one I am a part of is one of the best ways to spend our tax dollars in a way that benefits a wide range of people, not just teachers but also their students. This program is not limited to teachers in public schools. Many of the teachers I have taught were from private and parochial schools. Let’s hope that the politicians in Washington who are trying to eliminate such wonderful programs do not succeed. The NEH Program of Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers is truly valuable and needs to be supported.
PLATO would like to thank Thomas Wartenberg for taking the time to contribute to this post.
About the Author: Thomas Wartenberg is the current President of PLATO and the Director of Teaching Children Philosophy. His most recent book is Mel Bochner: Illustrating Philosophy.
Dear Plato,
More than ever the world “NEEDS” philosophical inquiry, question and debate! Especially in the societies which are recognized as the more advanced, sophisticated and modern. Those cultures in particular desperately need to relearn their philosophical origins. To that mission, “Plato” is to be most respected and highly appreciated.
To that same mission I have been writing on the subject of what I refer to as “metaphysics for kids”. It is a collection of stories written for a young audience about time, mind and the history of human intelligence. I hope to submit these stories to Plato as my contribution to the cause of higher philosophical awareness.