Schools Day
The Festival exists to give complex, uncomfortable questions a public forum. This day gives students the skills to be part of that conversation – not just once, but across a lifetime.
Critical thinking isn’t a soft skill. It’s the foundation of everything.
Over four hours, students learn one simple conversational move and use it all day: building on others’ arguments instead of just opposing them. That move unlocks real discussion – the kind where minds actually change. Students take a position, learn to argue it well, test it against philosophers from The Ethics Centre, and then turn those same skills onto a live question about AI and the future.
The only win on the day is a changed mind – someone else’s or your own.
Students also move through the Festival site, taking in VR experience The World Came Flooding In and HEAP as part of the day.
Designed for Years 9–11 students who are curious, opinionated and not afraid to be wrong. It sits naturally alongside Philosophy and Ethics, Society and Culture, English Advanced, and Debating – but the skills it builds go well beyond any subject.
Friday 21 August, 10am – 2pm
Carriageworks, Sydney
$25 per student, teachers free
BYO lunch
To book or find out more: schools@festivalofdangerousideas.com
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.