I don’t see much childish whining in my philosophy classes, because I always ask them to say ‘why?’ When someone complains about something without providing good reasons, that’s what I call ‘childish whining’.

I agree, childish whining is not philosophy. ‘Childish whining is not philosophy reading books, even difficult ones, and then having proper classroom chats about them is.’ Why not start with the classical Greek philosophers? Teach your charges about Socrates and Plato and Aristotle! Let them rehearse the arguments of all the great philosophers.’ ‘The problem today is that children are being taught bits of philosophy, in their circle-time activities. By claiming that P4C might help all primary-school pupils - especially those on free school meals - to do better in other disciplines, the EEF report does a serious disservice to philosophy.’ ‘P4C is a popular method of exploring concepts such as fairness or bullying in small group discussions. ‘Surely the worst, most instrumental reason for doing philosophy is that it might improve your skills in other areas, like maths and reading, while also boosting ‘cognitive abilities’ and pupils’ self-esteem.’ (So that I don’t simply repeat myself, go here for my response to the issue of philosophy’s own value: Aeon, should children do philosophy? Also read my response to Tom Bennett’s, Philosophy. Dennis Hayes wrote in Spiked Online, ‘Philosophy for children’ isn’t real philosophy.

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