PHILOSOPHY AS POLICY, POLICY AS PHILOSOPHY: REVIVING A RADICAL RELATIONSHIP

According to these stereotypical views (as common in the academy as they are among the public), philosophy never gets things done; policy always gets things done. Ensuing headlines mourn the decline of education systems, while parents have taken to boycotting shortsighted standardized testing regimes.2 At the centre of controversies about what should be taught, who should measure educational success and by what means, and how schools should be run is education policy.3 In the past 20 years, nations have taken to issuing more and more education policy, and that policy is increasingly detailed and prescriptive.4 Since the election of Ontario's Liberal government in 2003, the Ministry of Education has released unprecedented compulsory education policies on issues never before addressed: character education, financial literacy, mental health, daily physical activity, environmental action, to name but a few.