Philosophy Club gives HC students an outlet for casual learning
In the halls of HC, posters serve one purpose- to grab your attention. And for the most part everything is very straight forward- film club with their recognizable movie screenshot posters are straight and to the point. As is book club, more informative, but you would understand what was going on no matter what. Ultimate frisbee doesn’t take too much thinking to figure out either. But then there’s Philosophy Club. The posters are creative, and if you’ve seen them, you’ve probably laughed at them. From the one that simply says “Meh”, to “We think too much.” The only other addition is, “Room 16, every Thursday.” But that doesn’t mean that the people who notice the posters know what Philosophy Club is.
Philosophy Club, therefore, gets overlooked. It has only around 15 members who meet consistently every Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 in room 16. It is for the most part student-run, with only a limited amount of moderation from their sponsor, HC history teacher Sarah Behler. The student-run nature shows that students involved really are invested in Philosophy Club.
“The students who are in Philosophy Club use my room as a space to discuss philosophical ideas,” Behler said, “and sometimes I act a moderator for philosophical discussions. The students in Philosophy Club at HC are very dedicated to their club… We have at least ten to 15 members present at every club meeting.”
The club is formatted simply, each week a presentation is prepared and delivered on the topic voted on the previous week, and from there the topic is for the students to run with and explore. Through this Philosophy Club members show their interest in philosophy every week.
“More than anything, I just find it interesting, interesting and exciting that students in high school,” Behler said, “are they themselves interested in understanding these topics, discussing them, debating them, and establishing critical thinking skills that will probably help them in other fields of studies as well.”
Students might assume that Philosophy Club is really just like an extra hour-long class tacked onto the end of the day. They wouldn’t assume that the environment is relaxed, and that people come to have fun.
“It’s very relaxed,” HC Junior Sean Young mentioned in the library about Philosophy Club’s atmosphere. “But also … when we get into like big discussions there’s usually very tense heated arguments just like with each others, about the ideas.”
At the end of the day, Philosophy Club is one of the only places in the school where students can discuss philosophy topics. Which is something that leading Philosophy Club member HC Junior Sam Clark noticed his freshman year.
“You never really get a real opportunity to discuss and to talk about it.” Clark said. “My friends and I, we’d have these discussions during lunch, just about philosophy.”
So every Thursday students from various backgrounds are welcomed into Philosophy Club to discuss their beliefs and philosophies.
“We’re open for anything, and we won’t chastise you for any beliefs you have, we’ll just want to talk about them.” Clark said. “And if you don’t want to delve into a certain issue, we won’t stir the waters. We’ll try to make you feel accepted, but we will ask questions and just see what you think about things. We try to get people to think, that’s what we’re here to do, to try to get people to think. … We’re here to make people think.”
For the club leader, Philosophy Club is there to make people think. The club sponsor also had her own interesting, concise take on Philosophy Club.
“Becoming woke, because that’s what Philosophy Club is about,” Behler said.