Can Teaching Philosophy to Children Change Africa?
I studied philosophy for my first and second degrees but until recently I was not particularly fascinated by the idea of doing philosophy with children. I thought philosophy was for adults only; that children were too young to engage in philosophical inquiry. But I was mistaken.
I rediscovered philosophy, this time for children, in my efforts to fix what I thought was wrong with the school system in Nigeria. The educational system puts too much emphasis on memorization and rote learning, on reading and reproducing what other people, teachers and authors have thought or written. Learning is largely passive and teacher centered. Schooling is more of a cut-and-paste, memorize-and-reproduce process. The result? Schools churn out students and learners who cannot reason on their own, think outside the box, or even think with others. The lack of critical thinking or inquiry-based learning in schools leads to, by extension, the same in the society. Meanwhile the national policy on education aims to foster critical and reflective thinking in primary schools. But there are no subjects in primary or secondary schools that encourage inquiry-based learning.
The educational attainment of students is measured not in reproduction of answers but in challenging assumptions and existing knowledge.
An educational system called Questionstorm tries to change that. The educational attainment of students is tested and measured not in the production or reproduction of answers but in challenging assumptions and existing knowledge, in interrogating and disputing issues and experiences. Knowledge is assessed based on the ability and capacity to exert and express curiosity and inquisitiveness. Children are taught to think in terms of questions. At elementary schools, students learn to use words and construct sentences. So, in philosophy for children lessons, they are taught formation of words and phrases that could be used to interrogate ideas. Then they are taught to use these words and phrases to ask simple or complex questions, general and specific, referential, conditional, rhetoric questions, etc. in the past, present, or future, in the negative or positive forms. The emphasis is on the basic senses, that is on what children can see, hear, taste, touch or smell.
Students are made to understand that some questions are vague or not sensible.
Students are made to understand that some questions are vague or not sensible and questions could be asked to seek clarifications. For example. Who is sitting in the garden? In response, someone could ask: “Which garden?” Or “Are you sure someone is sitting in the garden?” Likewise, students are made to understand that some answers may be vague, wrong, incorrect, or mistaken. And questions could be asked to correct, or to seek clarity and better comprehension. The goal is to train children to think in terms of questions—not answers—whether they find themselves in situations where they are asked questions or are provided with answers.
Students are also made to understand that some answers may be vague, wrong, incorrect, or mistaken.
In the question-to-answer approach, which is part of the program, children are taught to respond to answers with questions. For instance, to this answer: “He lives in Malta,” one could ask: “Why does he live in Malta?”, “In which part of Malta does he live?”, or “How long has he lived there?”, or even “Are you sure he lives in Malta?”
In the quiz-questional approach, another technique taught to students, there is a right or correct question. And students are trained to generate the right question. This approach proceeds as follows: an answer or a response is provided, and students are told to guess the correct question. The quiz-questional approach is the mechanism for organizing critical thinking competitions for students and pupils.
For instance, to the answer: “Malta,” the question is: “What is the name of a EU member state that is located in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast?”, or a variation thereof. Teachers can provide core and peripheral hints to guide students to ask the right questions, these could be words or phrases such as “EU member state.” Teachers could also use hints-only in the quiz-questional approach. In this case, teachers provide some key words, phrases, information, or description. Then, they ask students to provide the correct question. For example, a teacher could say: “A mother arrived home and saw her child crying, and then she asked the child a question. What was the question?” As a part of the exercise, teachers and instructors would inform students the number of times they could try or attempt guessing the correct question.
These exercises have illustrated that students think and can think in terms of questions; that students can be co-examiners and co-interrogators of issues and experiences. That intelligence can be measured based on expressed critical and interrogative capacities.
Philosophy empowers children with agency, freeing them from undue control and censorship by teachers, parents, and guardians.
Philosophy for children fosters critical thinking in ways that empower children with a degree of agency and independence, freeing them from undue control and censorship by teachers, parents, and guardians. However, access to such technology, even as “simple” as teaching techniques, is uneven. This divide applies within and across regions. Many children live and school in rural areas where there is limited technological access; many schools lack the manpower, internet access, and computers/tablets to enable such advancements. Others live and study in more affluent urban areas where children have better access to this type of education. How African governments and people will manage this opportunity to empower children—and later adults—remains to be seen.