Philosophy for kids?

Are we living to be happy? Is language only a tool? Is art pulling us out from reality? Is happiness a private matter? Can we fight our own prejudice?

At the end of high school every kid in France has to write an essay to answer those type of questions. Philosophy is a mandatory subject for "le bac" (the equivalent of HSC in Australia) as it is in other countries in Europe such as Italy, Spain and  Portugal. 

"There are better and worse answers, but there is no clear answer", is advocating Dr. Sara Goering in this TEDtalk about philosophy for kids. This might be the reason why philosophy could be so valuable in kid's education today. It can't fit into a standardized multiple choice test template.

What I like about back to school Down Under

Last week the kids went (finally!) back to school after a long 6-weeks Summer holiday.
Schools in Australia have a lot of autonomy in the way they operate compared to schools in France ruled by the almighty and centralized* "Education Nationale" (our Department of Education). My experience as a parent might not be applicable everywhere in Australia, but here are a few random things I like about our local school :

• Proper handover : for their first day, kids go in their classroom from last year where they are picked up by the new teacher. Just like a rite of passage, this is a great way to symbolize the entrance into a new year.
• Modern communication : the school has my email address and provides us updates on critical things to do before school resumes.
• Books in one click : hooray. Books can now be ordered and paid on-line and they get delivered to the school too.
• Uniforms : shopping for new clothes is fairly easy as with uniforms you don't have to think about colour (blue), fabric (synthetic) and shape (loose). 

* centralization in France doesn't have only downsides, it gave us Versailles Palace, conceived by Louis XIV to rule the nobles by attracting them to the most magnificent palace ever built (as the say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer)

Have a great school year everyone.