With continual references to the scene of major conflicts between Republicans and Loyalists, Belfast is the Northern Irish city where Holy Cross Boys Primary Schools is based in which young students follow a philosophical course of study desired by the energetic school leader.

In this town more than 1,500 people were killed in political and religious violence between 1969 and 2001.

To this day, Northumberland street and Lanark Way are the two streets, with both pedestrian and automobile access, that make it possible to cross between Nationalist Catholic and Unionist Protestant neighborhoods, otherwise divided by a high wall, the so-called Peace Lines.

The documentary, though not didactically, hints at the school leader's intuited need to propose Philosophy for children, to educate boys' school children in reflection and reasoning.

The first lesson of the year will be Philosophy; two working groups are set up, the concept map group and the Socratic circle group.

" Is it right to vent one's anger on others?"

Each child expresses his or her thoughts while the others listen and reflect while respecting the opinion of others, through the Talking piece method.

Everyone must express his or her opinion, because to philosophize is to see differently.

Kevin McAreavey who heads Holy Cross Boys Primary School in North Belfast, a lover of Elvis Presley and his music, works out all the time, sport seems to be the most direct way to get the point across that the body needs training as much as thinking which is often neglected in favor of the former.

The meetings with the children's parents aim to communicate how much there is a need to get philosophy out of the school gates and into the homes of families so that the stimulus for thought is reciprocal.

The challenge for the week will be to talk to their children, devoting time to reflection.

In an area plagued by deaths by suicide, alcohol and drug addiction, the school leader invites children to learn to "go with their minds to their favorite place and try to stay there and feel good."

invites them to define what anxiety is and what to do to control it.

"A school full of thinking children" is the filmmaker's revealed dream for every school in the world...

As in the first scene of the film the school leader drives his car through the streets of Ardoyne amidst tricolors and political murals singing Elvis' song "If I could Dream" to the sound of the radio, the documentary's project is announced: that of communicating to the world how to set up teaching through the enlightening philosophical project is not an impossible thing, not even a difficult one because the curiosity, questions, and proposals of children always have a surprising twist.

Teaching that for Philosophy "it is very difficult to be right" seems an extremely important goal, especially in areas of continuous civil conflict but not only.

23-Jun-2023 by Beatrice