Teaching High School Philosophy Why do philosophy in high
school? The better question would ask why not? Philosophy is
routinely taught in Europe as a standard feature of the
secondary school curriculum. Rigorous summer institutes, such as
Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth and Northwestern
University’s Center for Talent Development, have long enjoyed
great success in exciting students about the discipline. In
recent years, a growing number of high schools, public as well
as private, have developed highly successful philosophy
electives, as well as philosophy clubs and ethics bowl teams.
Philosophy can and should be taught in high school because this
is the ideal time for students to engage its questions,
arguments, and methods of thinking. High school students have
not yet fully formed their habits of mind. They remain open,
inquisitive, and intellectually playful. For many adolescents,
the perennial questions posed by philosophy have urgency and
personal significance. At the same time, high school stu