“No”, she said, “ask the students, but could I please make sure that the conversation will not be about sex”. In the preparatory conversation with the headmistress I asked whether she or one of the teachers wanted to suggest a topic to me. Small groups return to the conversations they had when they entered, some students stretch their legs waiting for what will happen. Even during these few sentences the boy is interrupted from several sides: “this year’s musical will be a disaster”, “I don’t want the part I got”, “can we go and find the music teacher, so he can explain”, “I’m not interested anymore”. Quite a few students are not happy with the outcome, not at all, especially not with the decision who will play the leading role. In little time it becomes clear that before lunch break the music teacher announced the cast for this year’s school musical. What is it about? What does the boy refer to? I decide to ‘buy time’ and confirm: “Sure, we can. I like such prompt beginnings, but I’m puzzled by the question. A boy raises his hand and already starts speaking: “Sir, can we talk about who should get the leading role?”. I’m not quite sure what to say as an introduction from my side. The head mistress asks for silence and introduces me. The students (age 10 – 11) enter in small groups, each of them involved in their own conversations. I like the space: light comes in from all sides and the usual teacher-centred wall with a smart board is absent – it’s more cafeteria style. The school is new to me and having a philosophical conversation is new to the school. “It’s the only place where we can arrange a wide circle”, the head mistress tells me. My class will take part in the main hall, where the three wings of the school come together. Teachers are as suspicious of dialogues as the jury in Athens was suspicious of Socrates’ dialogues. They are attracted to debates as the youth around Socrates were attracted to his dialogues. Students simply like to test and contest opposing views. The team came proudly home as second best, and their debating skills opened an atmosphere of conversation in the classroom, the teacher told me afterwards. PROJECTLIBRE HANDBUCH DEUTSCH DOWNLOAD HOW TOI had met a couple of students at a house of a friend of mine and they asked me how to become the winning team. When it was organized for primary schools for the first time, I was asked to train the team of a school in Amsterdam. Debating competitions, which traditionally were only held at universities, recently gained popularity among high school students and some countries even have national debating competitions for primary school students. In comparison to dialogues there is more room for exaggeration, humour, playfulness and showmanship. To them, debates do have a definite attraction. Let’s look at it from the students’ perspective. And practically speaking, within the dominant model of dialogues / enquiries there is enough room for disagreement, so what does a debate have to offer as a strength or opportunity that is not available within the model of dialogues / enquiries? Why students are attracted to debates Or to put it more boldly, debates teach students the wrong values: polarize positions, advocate one viewpoint, less understanding of the viewpoints of others, false dichotomy, false confidence in solution, arrogance or timidity, instead of respect, courage, patience and empathy (Gardner, 2015 Zuidland 2016). When asked why, facilitators say that debates are the opposite of dialogues: dialogues focus on enquiry, debates don’t dialogues are collaborative and caring, debates are not therefore, dialogues should be preferred above debates. In P4C very few advocate debatesĭebates are not very popular in philosophy with children, I notice. Philosophers don’t like to call what they’re doing in writing a ‘dialogue’, ‘enquiry’ or ‘discussion’. What philosophers mean by a debate is a communicative setting with the following characteristics: there is a well-defined issue, there are two opposing sides and contributions are welcomed which redefine the issue, refine one or more of the previous arguments, or even introduce a new argument, take a clear stance and are aimed at persuading the audience to favour the author’s stance. PROJECTLIBRE HANDBUCH DEUTSCH DOWNLOAD FREEFor them it is fairly common language to refer to ‘the free will debate’ or the ‘causality debate’, but if an outsider were to ask whether that debate can be attended, philosophers will answer that their responses to age-old statements and arguments are perceived as contributions to ‘a debate’. Philosophers have a rather particular use of the word ‘debate’.
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