This movement wants to teach your kids philosophy

Introduction. Can children do philosophy? Jean Piaget, the most cited child psychologist in history, says no - he believed children are "not capable of critical thinking until age 11 or 12." But a 50 year old public movement called Philosophy for Children(P4C) disagrees 👇

The Founder. Matthew Lipman became a professor of philosophy at Columbia University only to realize that the students lacked basic reasoning skills and philosophical curiosity. He then decided to go upstream and bring philosophy to school classrooms.

The movement starts. Lipman published Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, a work of fiction for children that encouraged them to ask and answer philosophical questions. Questions that come up include : "Should every child go to school?" and "Should every person salute the flag?"

Inquiry v/s Lesson. P4C notes that the typical teacher-student relationship is fixated on giving students lessons. But life never spoon-feeds you answers - at best, it responds to your prodding inquiries. Teaching must shift its focus to "inquiring together into questions."

Pictures + Questions. Michael Siegmund tapped into the power of visuals and wrote many textbooks where open-ended philosophical questions were aided with pictures that would appeal to children. His most used work is Philosophy for Children and Teenagers: The best 123 questions.

Parents and teachers looking to give their children an early start in critical thinking can look into the book Big Ideas for Little Kids. This book takes books already in the curriculum - such as The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz - and shows students the philosophical questions at play.

Another book, titled Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, uses JK Rowling's best selling series to dig into themes of technology, ambition, discrimination, and more. The book poses questions like: "Why Slytherin belongs in Hogwarts?" and more.

Robert Sutcliffe, a UK-based educator, believes exposing children to philosophy will help them with "concept-construction." Most people think in fuzzy categories - philosophy from a young age can help fix that. Robert Sutcliffe also uses trending news to pose critical questions.

Theoretical inquiry only goes so far; philosophy must be embedded in reality. Therefore Jason Buckley promotes "a more physical, game-based approach." He makes children story characters "confronted with a variety of problems." They philosophize their way to a solution.

Bottom line. P4C is active on every continent today. There are dedicated journals: Questions: Philosophy for Young People ("Can it be good to hope, even if there’s not good reason to do so?") P4C equips kids for a world where critical thinking is becoming a success prerequisite.