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Chapter 6 90 Points (a) and (b) are important for what I regard to be a good conception of flourishing, whereas points (c) and (d) set a standard for the theory in which flourishing is being defended as an aim of education. If these criteria are met, I do think it is worthwhile to think about human flourishing as an ideal aim of education. John White argues that the ideal of flourishing is ‘far from a bland statement of the obvious’, by which I assume White means that it entails much more than the observation that if all human actions ultimately aim at a flourishing life, that aim is self-evidently also the aim of our upbringing and education. 8 I keep wondering about this claim. I agree with White that accepting the self- evident point that human flourishing is to be regarded as the ultimate aim of education is not the end of the matter, but a starting point which challenges us to provide a good conception of flourishing, as well as a clarification of what this means for educational practices. I side with Reiss and White’s point of view that the claim that education should contribute to the chances of children’s flourishing lives should not be a hollow phrase – it should not be an add-on without actual implications for actual classrooms and actual school subjects. 9 Constructing an ‘aims-based curriculum’, a curriculum that starts by formulating its ultimate aim (that is: flourishing or a life of well-being) and then works its way back to what the daily subjects should look like if they are to serve this bigger, overarching aim, as Reiss and White propose, is a good example of how this can be done. 10 A possible problem here is that the ideal, overarching aim of flourishing will come to be interpreted as an achievable goal, and as I have discussed in chapter 5 this is problematic in light of what kind of concept flourishing is. ‘Happiness lessons’ in school as a way of aiming for a life of well-being, for example, such as Wellington College in England or the Dutch method of gelukskoffer (happiness suitcase), assume that the ways to achieve (subjective) happiness can be learned, and that happiness can contribute to better school achievement. In other words, happiness is conceptualised both as a goal and as an instrumental good. 11 In chapter 2 it is argued that flourishing is always to be seen as an intrinsic good. In so far as happiness is seen as the same kind of concept as flourishing, or even as an equivalent of flourishing, ‘learning’ happiness creates tensions. But that is not the main point I want to make here. There is a sense in which I believe, contrary to White’s remark, that it is the crucial point of theory on education for flourishing to 8 White 2011, p. 2. 9 Reiss and White 2013. 10 Reiss and White 2013. 11 See for a critique on happiness lessons at Wellington College, Suissa 2008, or Kristjánsson 2013. See for the website of gelukskoffer : www.gelukskoffer.nl .