Philosophy as a Tool for Ameliorating

Educational Disadvantage

Thomas E. WartenbergMount Holyoke CollegeVictoria University Wellington

Mount Holyoke College Student Teaching Philosophy

James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous

Men• In every child who is born, under no matter what

circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again: and in him, too, once more, and of each of us, our terrific responsibility toward human life; toward the utmost idea of goodness, of the horror of terror, and of God... And ‘education,’ whose function is at the crisis of this appalling responsibility, does not seem to me to be all, or even anything, that it might be.... (290-91)

Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous

Men

Mount Holyoke Students at MLKCSE

A Practice Session

Introduction to Philosophy for Second

Graders

http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org

Bravery (Ethics)

Social and Political Philosophy

Essential Properties (Metaphysics)

Informal Logic

Philosophy of Language

Aesthetics(Philosophy of Art)

Environmental Ethics

The Chart

How Old the Boy Is and What He Wants

How the tree responds Is the Tree Happy? Did the Boy Ask for Too Much

A young boyHe swings in the tree

Nothing Yes

A teenagerHe wants money for a date

He gives him his apples Yes

A Young ManHe wants wood for a house

Gives the Man/boy his branches

Yes

A Middle Aged ManHe wants a boat

Gives the Man/boy his trunk

Not really

An old manTo rest

Lets him sit on the stumnp he has become

Yes

A Sample Discussion The Giving Tree

•

What students learn

1.To love books

What students learn

•2. How to say what they think

For videos please visit:http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5wuHRyHez0

What students learn

• 3. Self-Confidence

What students learn

•4. Understanding Arguments

Walker, Wartenberg, and Winner, forthcoming

A chart illustrating the results of a research project demonstrating children’s

increased level of understanding argumentshad to removed pending publication

What students learn

•5. Putting College onto their Radar Screen

What students learn

• 6. Creating Enthusiasm for Learning