Meaning at the Margins: The Case for Meaning Education in K-12 Schooling

Abstract

Across Canada, provincial education mandates cite intellectual development, socialization, and vocational preparation as some of the central goals of public schooling (B.C., 1989; Ontario, 1990). Within Alberta's Guide to Education (2024) yet another objective is offered, which is that schooling ought to promote the leading of “meaningful, fulfilling lives.” To date, little guidance has been provided on what educating for meaning might look like, nor how to achieve this laudatory goal. This paper makes the case that meaning education can be realized through the use of the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI). This is the case because this model (1) makes thinking visible (2) promotes taking ownership of one's values and behaviours (3) exposes youth to the viewpoints of others, and in so doing bolsters their emotional resilience, and (4) provides an interpersonal arena for value recalibration.