"PHILOSOPHICALLY SPEAKING...":

Why study philosophy? This article from The Guardian (UK) explains what Ireland is looking for by adding philosophy to its curriculum for 12- to 16-year-olds:

"Back in 2013, economists at Oxford University's Martin School estimated that in the next 20 years, more than half of all jobs would be substituted by intelligent technology. Like the prospect of robot-assisted living or hate it, it is foolish to deny that children in school today will enter a vastly different workplace tomorrow – and that’s if they’re lucky. Far from jobs being brought back from China, futurologists predict that white-collar jobs will be increasingly outsourced to digitisation as well as blue-collar ones. How should educationalists prepare young people for civic and professional life in a digital age? Luddite hand-wringing won’t do. ... In the near future school-leavers will need other skills. ... We will need people who are prepared to ask, and answer, the questions that aren’t Googleable: like what are the ethical ramifications of machine automation? What are the political consequences of mass unemployment? How should we distribute wealth in a digitised society? As a society we need to be more philosophically engaged. ...

"Philosophy is difficult. ... It requires us to overcome personal biases and pitfalls in reasoning. This necessitates tolerant dialogue, and imagining divergent views while weighing them up. Philosophy helps kids – and adults – to articulate questions and explore answers not easily drawn out by introspection or Twitter. ... Philosophy won’t bring back the jobs. It isn’t a cure-all for the world’s current or future woes. But it can build immunity against careless judgments, and unentitled certitude." www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/philosophy-teach-children-schools-ireland