Philosophy when put to use properly can be a functional and practical activity, and action-oriented, dramatic exercises have traditionally provided and can now provide an excellent outlet for children to explore and articulate their ideas with confidence. But is philosophy for children? Are children ready for sustained philosophical investigation? The philosopher Gareth Matthews provides ample and rich evidence that not only are very young children (4-6 yrs-old) capable of expressing philosophical wonder in often surprisingly sophisticated ways, young children (8-11 yrs-old) are also naturally capable and fond of sustained philosophical reflection, especially with regards to their own daily experiences. Young children, when invited, are inclined to evaluate the things that are closest to them; they are inclined already to do philosophy in a practical and personal way given the opportunity.

Teenagers are capable of even more, and they are often more resourceful at finding ways for such evaluation on their own. Young adults naturally test boundaries, play with identities, and alternately adopt and abandon attitudes, behaviors, gestures, manners; in short, they are characters in flux. Their world is one of “moral and ideological exploration, ferment, and consolidation. At this time in their lives, young people question their epistemological, moral, political, and religious assumptions, make critical career and other life choices, and rethink their sense of who they are and what is important to them” (Anne Colby). They naturally reshape and rethink themselves in an effort to create their own identities against a backdrop of social, political, and moral forces which they are just beginning to recognize. These young characters in flux earnestly ask fundamental questions to which the condition of their everyday lives is intimately connected.

Young adults better examine these questions and develop themselves in response to these questions when they are given the resources and outlets for sustained, shared, and integrated investigation. Philosophy is not another subject among subjects of the regular curriculum. It is not merely a summer project. It is not the domain of the gifted. And it is not meant to be pursued only on one’s own time. Philosophy develops useful strategies of critical thinking for all fields. Philosophy develops practical techniques for articulate, confident expression in all fields; it makes students better scientists, humanists, orators, and even test-takers. Matthew Lipman’s Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) promotes making philosophy the core of the regular curriculum for these reasons. He finds that because critical thinking is both “sensitive to context” and essential to understanding context, it ought to be made an active part of every subject rather than an extracurricular. When philosophy is made the self-reflective heart of every subject, students make connections between subjects, e.g. elements of subjectivity in both writing history and doing science, or discrete units of math and music. They become architects of their own educations, seeing a bigger picture. When they share this experience out loud with ears open to one another, ready to respond in constructive and dramatic ways, prepared to support sound ideas and persuasive arguments, students grow both as individuals and as a community of peers.

Unfortunately, philosophy does not play a formal part in high school education, and young adults are not often given these resources and opportunities for philosophical exploration and growth. Their talents are not being fully developed. Perhaps instructors believe because they have only had that “brush” with formal philosophy in college, they lack the skills for promoting a constructive, sustained philosophical discussion. They are not aware of their own natural capacities for such work, for promoting particular strategies of critical thought, for that ancient, daily craft of living. Perhaps they are suspicious of philosophy, especially a way of doing philosophy that pledges higher test scores and more effective, confident public speakers. And more simply, perhaps instructors do not feel they have the time for such work. A September 2004 EdSource study reports that, according to the most recent data from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), “California ranks next to last in the nation in the number of teachers and principals per student.” In addition, as the school-age population rises in California, “a larger portion of new students are from low-income families… /whose children/ typically require more support in school.” Children require more attention while they have, at the same time, fewer teachers. We are proposing an approach to high school education which begins to develop in a short period of time the lasting qualities of confidence, expressiveness, analytical thought, and constructive, cooperative spirit by providing children with more support, encouragement, individualized attention, and appropriate, accessible outlets for fun exploration and expression.

Forward to Multimedia Outlets

Back to Philosophical Performances