The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

TONE
We want to hear your voice!

Which school event do you most look forward to this year?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Local radio show records with Paly students and teachers

voice-picture

The student audience at the live taping of Philosophy Talk – Rachel HarrusStudents who watched the popular live taping of a local radio show on May 14 in the Social Studies Resource Center will have to wait until the fall to enjoy the episode.

The hosts of the Philosophy Talk radio show, Stanford professors Ken Taylor and John Perry, will air the segment it taped at Paly, titled ‘Is Philosophy Corrupting the Youth?’, near the beginning of the fall semester. This is just one of many their many weekly episodes that touch upon everyday philosophical topics.

The show included an interview with junior Charles Lockner from Paly and a student from Menlo School, who discussed topics ranging from the ethics of war to eating meat.

Following that, author Jack Bowden, who also teaches at Menlo School in Atherton, promoted his latest book titled The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers.

The program concluded with student questions, which took up the latter half of the episode. One student, junior Sam Greene, asked about the place of philosophy in education today, but was not satisfied with the response given.

“I was disappointed with his [Ken’s] response and the follow-up from John because they hopped around the conflict,” Greene explained.

Despite the small disappointment, Greene found the overall experience of attending the recording session to be thought-provoking.

“I appreciated listening to the concerns and opinions of some well-educated and experienced thinkers in the community,” Greene said.

English teacher Lucy Filppu contacted the two hosts of the show back in November after listening to their show in her Humanities class. Despite scheduling difficulties, the three agreed on a date to have the live taping.

“The hosts are extremely busy teaching at Stanford and taping the show so it took six months to figure out a date we would all agree upon,” Filppu said.

Nevertheless, Taylor and Perry were thrilled by this rare opportunity for both the students and for themselves.

“Their initial enthusiasm to my letter suggested we could make this happen,” Filppu said. “They loved the idea of ‘philosophizing’ with high school students.”

Filppu first came across Philosophy Talk when doing her research for her new job as Humanities teacher. She found the radio show helpful to Humanities students because of the different context in which it discusses the major topics of philosophy.

“I was new to philosophy, having spent my career in journalism and English, so I spent all last summer reading and researching great thinkers,” Filppu said. “I loved Philosophy Talk because it was audio, and I learn by listening as well as seeing, and also because Ken and John boil down the big ideas of philosophy into real life, sizable chunks. I thought my students would appreciate the show as a learning tool.”

Like her students, Filppu appreciated the Philosophy Talk radio show taping with the Paly community as their audience. This event provided for students to take a break from their typical classes and change their way of thinking, and Filppu said that it opened her eyes to the potential of Paly students.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed watching students take the ‘leap of faith’ to find out what it means to participate in this thing we call human existence,” Filppu said. “Watching the Philosophy Talk event reassured me that out Paly students are going to do great things in and for the world. I was very proud of our students.”

“I felt the Philosophy Talk live taping was the perfect event for Paly,” Filppu said. “It had just the right vibe: intellectual, questioning, open, daring. It takes courage to step outside of the typical ‘college-bound’ student box and ask the big questions about life.”

This year, the event attracted so many students that the SSRC overflowed with a standing audience and teachers had to turn away some students. Filppu hopes the show will come back in the future, although she believes that the Haymarket Theater would be a better location to hold the event because it accommodates a larger audience.

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

All The Paly Voice Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *