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Teaching philosophy within a prison really ups the ante.
Students inside those walls are not just mulling over concepts. More
than most who move freely about, inmates are subject to the daily rigors of society’s views (or lack thereof) about morality.
That is why it is so essential to provide a "safe space” in which prisoners can mull over life’s finer points. In the
absence of that, they may simply be steeped in life’s coarser moments.
Christia Mercer of The
Washington Post reports that she has been teaching Aeschylus’ “Oresteia” to a group of incarcerated women. These women, “who have spent years in prison,”
responded vibrantly to this opportunity. Some asked insightful questions; others bristled with excitement.
Mercer does this as a volunteer because funding for post-secondary courses has been slashed from prison budgets since the 1990s. She puts forth this question for all to consider: If our
job as educators is to nurture
intellectual growth and contribute to a
thoughtful future for
our country, what could be more obvious than to help
those who are educationally under-served?
Mercer adds this encouraging Rand Institute statistic: Recidivism goes down
by 43 percent when people are offered education.
Resources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/03/24/i-teach-philosophy-at-columbia-but-the-best-students-i-have-are-inmates/?tid=trending_strip_3
Copyright March 29, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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