The Big Questions

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

How can we know our lives have meaning/purpose? What is knowledge? Are human rights universal? Am I real? What is beauty?

These are just some of the big questions Year 9 and 10 Philosophy students have enjoyed tackling this year. As we complete the second year of Philosophy classes at King’s, it provides a great opportunity to reflect on how the new elective course has grown. Across Years 9-10 we have had 40 students engaging in Philosophy lessons, with the numbers set to grow to close to 50 in 2021. The Philosophy elective was introduced to the School in 2019 and has proved very popular with students. “Philosophy has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and a critical thinking capacity that is indispensable for success in one’s academic life at King’s,” says Year 10 student, Angus Williams. Students have also found that the lessons are different, both in structure and content. “They allow for more discussion and deep thinking. Learning in Philosophy, you listen to other classmates’ ideas and incorporate those whilst building your own, rather than only having one correct answer,” said Wilbur Blaxland (Year 10).

The aim of Philosophy in Schools is to create a Community of Inquiry (COI) where collaborative inquiry based teaching and learning transforms the way that students learn and the manner in which they relate to one another. Such a classroom fosters critical, creative and caring thinking by means of structured class and small group discussions. (Cam, 2020). “I’ve always found the COI experiences to be the

most enjoyable sessions in Philosophy. I enjoy voicing my own views, and playing devil’s advocate occasionally, and find many of the views my classmates present as interesting, even if they directly conflict with my own,” says Daniel Ma (Year 9). COI is a process involving a group of people who, through collaborative and reflective discussion, explore “big” ideas. Samuel Tiongson (Year 9), has enjoyed how the “conversations in class give rise to many more conversations outside the classroom.”

Year 10 student Veer Benepal recommends this course to younger students, saying, “take Philosophy if you want to learn more about the world around you, while also getting to express your opinions in a constructive environment.” Kyan Luu (Year 10) follows that advice by commenting, “come into every Philosophy class with an open mind and a blank slate. Listen to everyone’s thoughts and take as much time as you need to formulate and process your ideas.”

Along with philosophy in the classroom, there have been many opportunities for students to engage in philosophical inquiry in a cocurricular space. Philosothons and Ethics Olympiads are inter-school competitions where boys can flex their critical thinking, questioning and reasoning skills against students from other schools. The Year 7-8 Mary Burn Philosophical Society and Year 9-10 Student Colloquium offer unique opportunities for boys to be exposed to and value each other’s thinking whilst on campus.

This year, despite the difficulties with COVID, the Ethics Olympiad competition was adapted successfully to the online environment where it provided more opportunity for connections with school teams across the globe. The opportunity for the boys to explore and solve difficult problems using thoughtful analysis and reasoning with students from other schools, and in this case across the globe, was invaluable. They were able to wrestle with real-life and timely ethical issues affecting society, hopefully giving them more experience and tools to deal with these difficult decisions in the future through respectful, creative and rigorous discussion.

This year, The King’s School competed against Adelaide’s St Peter’s Girls School and Strathfield’s Santa Sabina, as well as schools from China and Canada at the International Ethics Olympiad. Each of the Australian schools had competed in earlier rounds of senior student Olympiads held between Australian and New Zealand teams. Students defend whatever position they believe is right and win by showing that they have thought more carefully, deeply

Senior Ethics Olympiad team

and perceptively about the cases in question. At the June Olympiad, St Peter’s won gold, Team Toronto took silver and King’s was awarded the bronze.

For Year 12 student Tom Cornelius, “the whole discussion around ethics and philosophy is intriguing because these two topics form the fundamentals for what we perceive as meaning in life.” Daniel Gu also in Year 12 says an understanding of philosophy and ethics are deeply important. “With so many varying perspectives and stakeholders in every scenario that are all very timely such as who to save from COVID-19, having a broad mindset and understanding would facilitate one to make more informed and considerate decisions,” he says.

We look forward to seeing many more of our boys engage in successful philosophical inquiry both in and out of the classroom, providing them opportunities to use it in various aspects of their life.

Kathryn Fraser Head of Academic Enrichment and Extension