Nietzsche may actually be alive, ironically, and thriving at schools and newspapers. The T-shirt that was a huge seller that read — “Nietzsche is dead, God” — may have got it all wrong. I have noticed recently that schools have started abandoning a document that used to be quite common called “A Statement of Philosophy.” It was usually written by an Academic Dean and had rarely been updated except every 10 years when the rigmarole of accreditation required it. This may be a mistake and I would like to explain why.
Let’s start with a few sample questions that you could ask your communities to test whether they are philosophically on the same page:
Question 1: Please choose the missing word that most corresponds with your view.
An important role of education at our school is to help students ______ their identity
- Discover
- Create
- None of the above — Please fill in why in a few short sentences
Question 2: Please choose the missing word that most corresponds with your view.
An important role of education at our school is to help students learn values that are _________
- Universal
- Culturally acceptable today
- Useful from our experiences
- None of the above — Please fill in why in a few short sentences
Question 3: Please choose the missing word that most corresponds with your view.
Our reality is defined by ________
- Facts and reason
- Our interpretations, personal narratives, and experiences
- None of the above — Please fill in why in a few short sentences
These questions have been constructed because they provide insight into the “world view” of your communities. I am not suggesting that you are looking for a homogeneous response, but I am suggesting that the range of responses will provide valuable information on how aligned with or enabling of diversity your policies, practices, pedagogy, and curriculum are.
The “Modern World” is generally defined as a period beginning somewhere around 1650 and ending somewhere around 1950: it was defined by science, facts or reason, strong institutions, established power structures, particularly at a class level, in career or family hierarchies, and by the established sources (gatekeepers) who controlled information. The eruptions of conflicts the world over further embedded these needs for societal control. Schools very much reflected these elements, and so did teaching practice and curriculum that tended to be updated for…
