Two evenings of school commitments so far this week. Last night a colleague in my department gave a presentation on "Teaching Happiness" - which was in effect our Year 9 Philosophy & Religious Studies course (that he has been teaching me to teach), so it was all familiar stuff, but great nevertheless. It's based on the Positive Pyschology movement and the work of pyschologists Martin Seligman and Jonathan Haidt, who, instead of looking at what makes people depressed, looks at what makes them happy. We cover materialism, basic brain function in relation to desire and its regulation (reptilian system vs the neo cortex) "Affluenza", the hedonic treadmill and mindfulness (Mathieu Ricard, meditation and neuroscience). 


This evening was a rather cerebral affair with the some of the brightest of the senior boys- I was the 'guest' member of staff at a sort of philosophy & ethics society meeting which takes places periodically over "supper" - about 20 boys who discuss an issue which a couple of them present at the start - today was 'does altruism exist?', which is an area a little out of my comfort zone to be honest.


The food was excellent, of course - I loved the fact that there was a tray of about 40 mini meat pies and a plate of Lamingtons. How very Australian.....