Instigator / Pro
28
1518
rating
3
debates
66.67%
won
Topic
#210
Philosophy should be mandatory subject for students both in lower and higher education.
Status
Finished
The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.
Winner & statistics
After 4 votes and with 16 points ahead, the winner is...
McSloth
Parameters
- Publication date
- Last updated date
- Type
- Standard
- Number of rounds
- 4
- Time for argument
- Two days
- Max argument characters
- 30,000
- Voting period
- One week
- Point system
- Multiple criterions
- Voting system
- Open
Contender / Con
12
1440
rating
4
debates
0.0%
won
Description
This debate will be weighing the pros and cons of philosophy as a subject for students. As the pro in this debate I will attempt to prove the merit of philosophy and why it should become mandatory, while the con will argue that philosophy should not become a mandatory subject for students. I look forward to this debate and feel free to put forth questions in the first round, be it about definitions or judging criteria. We will present our actual arguments starting round 2.
Round 1
First off, thank you for taking on this debate, I look forward to what is brought to the table in this debate.
Do you have any questions regarding this debate? If not we can begin the actual debate in round two.
Forfeited
Round 2
Well damn, I was actually looking forward to this debate. Well might as well present at least one argument.
Philosophy has been proven to enhance student's abilities in core areas, for example a study conducted in the United Kingdom found that children who attended a weekly, hour long class that covered philosophy, saw improvements in both math and reading ability.
With this argument and the fact that my opponent has failed to present anything, I would strongly encourage you all to vote for the Proposition. I apologise to anyone who came here looking for a real debate.
Forfeited
Round 3
Argument extended.
Forfeited
Round 4
Argument extended, make sure to vote for the Proposition.
Forfeited
" you really don't think students can handle one extra class?" Given that many high school students have to deal with after school activities like sports, I don't know if they can handle 1 extra class. Sports end at 5:00. If you implement a Philosophy class for 45 minutes every day, then sports would end at 5:45, which is bad since it gets dark around that time during the middle of the school year.
As a high schooler myself, I don't know if I could handle more HW, especially during Junior year. I also don't know if I'm willing to take a philosophy class.
"Our students need to be pushed, we've been lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of academic scores for years now" This is an idea that I'm considering supporting and I've posted content like this before. Our education system would be more efficient if we had all of our students get educated by online schooling like Khan academy, with rewards handed out to kids based off of how many points they get. This way, school is more of a competition and this could cause grades/SAT scores to skyrocket, creating a smarter class.
It would essentially be one extra class each semester starting in high school, you really don't think students can handle one extra class? Our students need to be pushed, we've been lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of academic scores for years now, and philosophy would be the perfect subject to increase scores across the board. Research has shown students that take on philosophy classes see an improvement across all subjects, due to the fact that philosophy improves on core academic skills such as critical thinking and problem solving.
"It would be equivalent to the credits needed for subjects such as math and English." I don't think we should have 4 years of Philosophy as a requirement. It seems too excessive. I don't think I'm willing to take that many of those classes and it would be tough on students.
It would be equivalent to the credits needed for subjects such as math and English. We don't see that happening with our current subjects and classes that cover philosophy, so there is no evidence that by making philosophy a mandatory subject would change that. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner by the way.
How many credits should be necessary? I'm worried that the teachers could be hyper left leaning or right leaning and they would use the philosophy class as a way to indoctrinate the youth.