Philosophy for second graders
Last month Colin and I looked at whether public philosophy should be taught in high schools. Apparently we weren’t being ambitious enough. A New York Times article today looks at Thomas Wartenberg, a Mount Holyoke professor, who explores philosophy a few times a month with second graders at a charter shcool in Springfield, Massachusetts. Wartenberg’s approach is to use classic children’s books as a starting point to look at basic philosophical issues. For example, Shel Silverstein’s book The Giving Tree is used to discuss questions like “how should we treat natural objects?” and “how much is too much for an individual to take from nature?”
The article goes into a long running academic debate over the age at which children develop the capacity for abstract reasoning and quotes Professor Gareth Matthews as claiming that “young children very often engage in reasoning that professional philosophers can recognize as philosophical.” In fact, in the 1970s, Columbia professor Matthew Lipman claimed that thinking about philosophical questions could actually help children develop critical reasoning skills.
“A lot of people try to make philosophy into an elitist discipline,” Wartenberg, the Mount Holyoke professor argues, “but everyone is interested in basic philosophical ideas; they’re the most basic questions we have about the world.” Amen.
-Marc
Related posts:
- Public philosophy 4 kidz, continued
- Public philosophy in the face of uncertainty
- On the site of public philosophy
- Tea Party Philosophy
- Mandatory public philosophy courses in high school?
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