# Should psychology be taught in High School?



## Kanon (Nov 7, 2009)

Do you think psychology should be taught in High School/Secondary School? I've been researching adolescent cognitive development and began to wonder how adolescents would interact and develop if psychology and social psychology were apart of the curriculum (or at least offered at every high school). Any thoughts? 
roud:


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## Mind Marauder (Nov 12, 2009)

Well it was offered at my high school as well as sociology. I think philosophy should be mandatory as well, but that's just me.


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## BehindSmile (Feb 4, 2009)

Absolutely. My high school Psych class completely opened my eyes up to what I wanted to study and do with my life. Psychology is incredibly useful in everyday life, even if it's not something you want to do professionally. High school should offer more useful classes...


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## Tkae (Oct 15, 2009)

My school offered both psychology and sociology.

I don't think it should be mandatory though. I had enough mandatory classes, and being mandatory makes it not so fun :sad:

And anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take band if it had been mandatory.


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## Kanon (Nov 7, 2009)

Mind Marauder said:


> Well it was offered at my high school as well as sociology. I think philosophy should be mandatory as well, but that's just me.


I'm not sure about mandatory, but i wish philosophy was offered at my high school. if it was a replacement elective for P.E., it would have been a popular class. :crazy: 



BehindSmile said:


> Absolutely. My high school Psych class completely opened my eyes up to what I wanted to study and do with my life. Psychology is incredibly useful in everyday life, even if it's not something you want to do professionally. High school should offer more useful classes...


Very true. Psychology is useful in just about anything that involves people. i know what you mean... the electives, especially in government funded public high schools, do not have very many interesting elective classes.



Tkae said:


> My school offered both psychology and sociology.
> 
> I don't think it should be mandatory though. I had enough mandatory classes, and being mandatory makes it not so fun :sad:
> 
> And anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take band if it had been mandatory.


i agree. the idea of making it mandatory was what was holding back my opinion. chemistry would have been a lot more interesting if it wasn't a graduation requirement, although virtually none of the concepts from the class apply to my life or what i would like to pursue.


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## BehindSmile (Feb 4, 2009)

Kanon said:


> i agree. the idea of making it mandatory was what was holding back my opinion. chemistry would have been a lot more interesting if it wasn't a graduation requirement, although virtually none of the concepts from the class apply to my life or what i would like to pursue.


I feel the same way with Physics. I didn't understand the class but it made a year complete hell for me, worrying about passing. To this day, I remember nothing. Chemistry was a tad better, but not by much. It should certainly be an elective, because some careers do need those classes, however...none that I am interested in. Also any math higher than Algebra & Geometry shouldn't be required. We had algebra II and I certainly don't use or remember any of that. I just remember basic algebra, which again...I will never use.


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## Danse Macabre (Oct 30, 2009)

I think it should be a choice. My high school didn't have psychology, philosophy or sociology. But we had sports studies! At least the _important_ things in life were covered.

It really angered me though, because we had to do at least five subjects and you couldn't do two English subjects. So I ended up doing English, Music, History, Ancient History, and Maths. I got an E in maths because I refused to waste my time on something so worthless. I realise that was a bit pointless <.< 


I would have loved to do philosophy, sociology and psychology. 

I don't think it should be mandatory though. However I think some philosophy would be useful. If only to free kids that may have been brainwashed by rabid parents.


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## Kanon (Nov 7, 2009)

DanseMacabre said:


> I don't think it should be mandatory though. However I think some philosophy would be useful. If only to free kids that may have been brainwashed by rabid parents.


That's a very good point. This may be problematic in countries that value individualism because parents, teachers, and other authority figures will tell adolescents that they should believe certain principles and values (which sometimes conflict with each other), and sometimes these values (like with parents) are not very negotiable. It doesn't really encourage critical thinking... but rather submission and obedience to a system that allows very little compromise. Then, once reaching adulthood, they are expected to suddenly develop their own world views and principles. I can see the pros and cons for both sides of this, but you are right. philosophy may at least even the odds for adolescents under those conditions.


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## susurration (Oct 22, 2009)

Sociology was the most important subject I studied at school. Not only did it give me critical thinking skills essential for academic success, but instilled in me the value of socio cultural literacy.

Not to mention I had to do social research the equivalent to a college assignment. Put me ahead of most people when I got to university. In terms of being an independent, self motivated learner, who could handle creating thesis' and doing proper research. 

I think children should be taught in school (if not by their parents) that learning doesnt end at school. That would take away the shame some children feel, when they don't seem to excel in orthodox subjects.


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## Skewed (Jul 14, 2009)

Yes, it should be. Except, I think they should start earlier, elementary school. It would be very beneficial if people had a better understanding as to why people do the things they do.


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

Philosophy was offered at my school, but it had a severely Catholic slant. Nothing like real, objective philosophy :/


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## djf863000 (Nov 7, 2009)

It should only be a choice, just like philosophy. Philosophy was mandatory in my last year of high school. I sucked at it badly. I hated it.


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## Kathryne (Sep 16, 2009)

The only sciences offered in my high school, currently, are Biology and Chemistry. It's still developing, though, and by the end it should have Bio, Chemistry, AP Bio, and AP Physics. All required; no other options.
I would LOVE to have the option of psychology or even sociology. For now, it just has to be a side-hobby.

As for maths... Up to Trig/Precalc is the general requirement. They strongly encourage Calculus, and I'll be taking Calc 2 next year... as if I'll ever use it.


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## Munchies (Jun 22, 2009)

Liontiger said:


> Philosophy was offered at my school, but it had a severely Catholic slant. Nothing like real, objective philosophy :/


 I had it offered at my school too, but the teacher would teach about what he thought to be phsychology, needless to say it wasnt right


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## Viktoria2 (Feb 15, 2009)

*I definitely think it should be taught in High School. Or maybe as Skewed said, even earlier than that, was a magnificent idea. As he said, it would be great if people had a better understanding at a younger age. The problem is keeping people interested. If nobody is interested in the subject, they aren't going to have a full understanding of what is going on inside people's heads, and why they do the things they do, therefore a mandatory class would be a waste of time and money. 

They teach it at my high school, as well as sociology. I'm interested in taking the course, and know alot of people that have benefited from it and found it interesting. I think it would be fun. 

The thing with mandatory classes is that nobody should be forced to do things thy don't want to do. I understand that they want everybody to be well rounded, but teaching chemistry to an artist is a bit ridiculous, especially if they aren't going to use it. *


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## Rourk (Feb 17, 2009)

Liontiger said:


> Philosophy was offered at my school, but it had a severely Catholic slant. Nothing like real, objective philosophy :/



Like Aquinas and Augustine? I would of loved this. In fact, I'd love to be catholic.


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

Munchies said:


> I had it offered at my school too, but the teacher would teach about what he thought to be phsychology, needless to say it wasnt right


Yeah, my teacher was like that too. I like my college philosophy professor so much more. She won't even tell us her views so that we won't be biased towards them.



> Like Aquinas and Augustine? I would of loved this. In fact, I'd love to be catholic.


No, not even. We discussed the emergent probability view and she told us that God encourages the good possibilities, or something like that. And then the other part was about quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. She mostly taught at us instead of letting us think for ourselves. There really wasn't any critical thinking involved.


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## teacupslove (Nov 17, 2009)

My school had psychology and I did pretty bad in it because it was basically all memory work about facts, facts and more facts. Unfortunately there was nothing to do with feelings or understanding humans on an emotional level.


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

teacupslove said:


> My school had psychology and I did pretty bad in it because it was basically all memory work about facts, facts and more facts. Unfortunately there was nothing to do with feelings or understanding humans on an emotional level.


Much of the introductory material is like this. They like to provide a solid foundation of biology and such before delving into theory.


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## teacupslove (Nov 17, 2009)

Liontiger said:


> Much of the introductory material is like this. They like to provide a solid foundation of biology and such before delving into theory.


The highest level of psychology at my school was learning about research methods, the brain, visual perception and other stuff I don't remember. I think the introductory material had some things about emotions and intelligence but that wasn't a major part of the course. 

Oh well. :happy:


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## jaccib88 (Jul 15, 2011)

I think that not only should psychology be offered in high school, but it should be a science credit option. Not only does psychology improve you're interpretation of the world around you, but it also stimulates thought and personal reflection. High school is at it's core supposed to stimulate thought and open young minds...not just bog them down with dates, facts, names, and mathematical theories that they will probably never remember. I am actually in the process of becoming a high school history teacher with a certificate to teach psychology at this level, I think the benefits are tremendous, however the public school system is so under-funded that creating a whole new program is more of a financial burden than most schools can handle.


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