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Plato in Belfast

It's very easy to understand why Etienne Essery (Writer), David Rane (Producer), and Neasa Ni Chianain and Declan McGrath (Co-Directors) wanted to make the documentary "Young Plato", which follows a teacher at an all-boys school in Belfast, Ireland. It's a place with an extremely bloody history, where tensions remain high between Catholics and Protestants.

The Holy Cross Boy's Primary School's headmaster, Kevin McArevey, is a big believer that teaching young boys philosophy will help shape their futures in a way that might make the area more peaceful going forward.

He teaches them the Socratic Method, which is a dialogue between teacher and students, instigated by the continual probing questions of the teacher in a concerted effort to explore the underlying beliefs that shape the students views and opinions.

McArevey also visits their families to get parents involved in his teaching methods in the hopes of fostering a better understanding between the children and their parents. Everything is designed for giving the kids the tools to think for themselves and to question their parents about their past in Belfast.

The overall tone of "Young Plato" is hopeful. Maybe this method of teaching can help turn things around in Belfast, but the documentary offers zero evidence of how well it's worked so far. At the very least, it's difficult to believe it will make things worse. Hopefully, it ends up helping.