Philosophy for Children

3Home Grown
Thomas E. Jackson
Director, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education
Every living thing on these islands of Hawai`i camefrom somewhere else. The seeds were transported here in
one way or another across vast stretches of ocean. Once here,
the seeds grew and developed, adapting to the unfamiliar
challenges of their new home. People also came. Pride ofplace in arrival and thriving in the unique setting of theseislands goes to the Native Hawaiians whose way of life
continues to nourish the thinking and ways of being of theother, more recent arrivals from elsewhere.
So it is with p4c Hawai`i. It began elsewhere, but it
has grown in new and exciting ways—influenced by allthat is best about our island home. This volume presents
the richness of the living forms that P4C has taken since its
arrival in 1978. In this opening essay, I will relate some ofthe story of those beginnings and what has contributed to theprogram’s specialness.
P4C began in the late 1960s when Matthew Lipman,
while teaching philosophy to undergraduates at Columbia
University, made a connection that had not really everreceived much thought—the idea that philosophy could betaught, and indeed should be taught, to children. Lipman
saw that his students had a lot of passion to change theworld but were lacking in their ability to reason soundly andexercise good judgment in how to go about their lives. He
also recognized that college was rather late in life to begin
efforts to systematically develop reason and good judgment.
He wondered if the discipline of philosophy, with its
emphasis on clear thinking and sound judgment, if properly
reconfigured, might be presented at an earlier age. He
realized that philosophy in its current academic form would
be unsuitable for children but wondered what would happen
if philosophy were presented in a more accessible way, in theform of a novel, perhaps. In the story that he would tell, thereaders would discover, in a playful way, the rules of good
thinking, while at the same time learning to think together
about some of the deep, philosophical questions that have
perplexed humans for over two thousand years. He set towork on his manual typewriter and soon had his first novel
tapped out. He titled it, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery,a play on the name of the philosopher, Aristotle. First, he
tried it out on his son’s sixth-grade class, where he wasdelighted and astounded by how quickly the children wereable to see the logical rule presented in the first chapter andhow they were able to raise their own questions about otherphilosophical issues that were skillfully woven into the story.
Following that informal test, experimental trials were
held that demonstrated significant gains in reading andmath among the students who had engaged in philosophicaldiscussions after reading Harry Stottlemeier over the control
groups who had not. In the early 1970s Lipman moved
to Montclair State College, as Montclair University wasthen known, where he joined with Ann Margaret Sharp increating the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy
for Children (IAPC). The IAPC soon attracted international
attention. Each year scholars, mainly those connected withacademic departments of philosophy, came for a three week
workshop conducted by Lipman and Sharp. This workshop
experience was an intense immersion in this new way of
doing philosophy.
By the early 1980s the IAPC had developed acurriculum (now referred to as the Philosophy for Children
or P4C curriculum) that consisted of seven novels withseven accompanying teacher’s manuals. At the same time,
there was a strong effort to promote critical thinking in thenation’s schools. In response, the Federal Department of
Education established a panel of experts to identify which of
the programs that claimed effectiveness in developing criticalthinking could actually present research-based evidence insupport of their claims. If the data they presented met DOE
standards, the program received “national validation”. Suchprograms then became part of an official list that schools
around the country could consult in their own search for
an effective approach. Philosophy for Children was one ofseveral programs that received this important validation.
National validation also meant that the program was eligible
for federal money to support costs associated with theprofessional development of school faculty who wanted to
implement the program.

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Educational Perspectives v Volume 44 v Numbers 1 and 2

In 1984 I had just completed a doctorate in comparative
philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i. I had also spent
three years as a cofounder of the Hawai‘i InternationalFilm Festival, and I was seeking work outside a traditional
academic career in philosophy. I had, by chance, the singulargood fortune to learn about Matthew Lipman and P4C and in
August of that year, together with a colleague, Karen Lee, I
attended one of those three week workshops at Montclair. It
was there that Karen and I experienced first-hand, with colleagues from around the world, the excitement of the Lipman
approach—of thinking together in philosophical ways about
topics that we chose from passages we had read in one of his
novels and, in the process, experiencing the sense of being
part of a community of inquiry. The decisive experience forme occurred in the last week when we went to a local school
to observe a group of sixth graders engaging in P4C–Lipman
style. I could hardly believe my eyes. Students, sitting in acircle, had been reading a passage from Harry Stottlemeier,and they were now coming up with their own questions
on aspects of the text. Next they selected the question theywanted to talk about and, with the help of a philosopher/facilitator, they began to inquire together into the question
they had selected. The students were animated, engaged,
and thoughtful. They shared their personal views with eachother and began to develop more penetrating insights into thequestion that they had selected. I had a deep sense of wanting
somehow to be able to do this for the rest of my life.
When we returned to Hawai‘i that summer Karen and I
found that the critical thinking movement was in full swing
in local schools. Hawai‘i educators were looking for ways
to implement this new mandate. Soon we found ourselves
conducting our first workshops. These workshops markthe beginning of p4c Hawai`i. Though we achieved somesuccess in our early workshops, we soon found it necessary
to modify the Lipman approach. Teachers and students wereable to read the texts together and come up with questions,but they were stymied by what to do to keep an inquiry
moving once a question had been selected. In an earlier experiment in P4C on the Big Island, Barry Curtis and Nobuko
Fukuda at UH Hilo, had revealed similar shortcomings. The
Lipman manuals, which had been designed to respond to thisdifficulty, were, in practice, unwieldy and difficult to use.
Our first innovation, one of many over the years that havecome to distinguish p4c Hawai`i from other P4C sites aroundthe world, was to recognize the need for in-class support

for the teacher. It was as a result of this collaboration, of
working together with teachers and students, that we cameto create what we now describe as an intellectually safe
community of inquiry—an innovative setting in which topics
that arise out of the interests of the community are pursued inphilosophically responsible ways.
In-class support was at first accomplished by the addition to the classroom of a philosopher/facilitator—a personwith extensive experience in doing p4c who would join theteacher as a weekly participant in p4c sessions. In the beginning this was either Karen or myself; later, it was provided
by UH Philosophy Department graduate students. This
innovation was almost magical in its impact. We had not,initially, anticipated the profound effects it would have on
the students and the consequences it would have in developing p4c Hawai‘i as a unique expression of Lipman’s P4C.
The regular classroom presence of these facilitators
quickly developed into ongoing, creative partnerships among
participating teachers, students, and philosopher/facilitators.
We realized that the pedagogical skills of the teacher in combination with the philosophical skills of the p4c facilitator
were essential in order to engage the children in philosophical inquiry. The partnerships that we formed in these earlyyears have continued to evolve.
Our model is not that of the expert who comes to workwith the novice. This would harm our aim of creating an
intellectually safe community. p4c Hawai‘i offers a different
model—one that acknowledges the pedagogical skills of theteacher. The teachers know their students, they know when
they are experiencing difficulty in understanding something,
and they know how to respond appropriately. Teachers who
participate in the p4c circle also help to match the philosophical inquiry approach with the content for which they
are responsible. Both teacher and facilitator learn from eachother. The teacher internalizes the craft of the philosopher’spedagogy; the philosopher/facilitator learns the craft ofclassroom teaching.
Karen and I experienced great enthusiasm from teachers
in this partnership, and we experienced considerable externalpressure to expand p4c to other schools. In spite of thisenthusiasm, we discovered that when in-class support at agiven school ceased, p4c quickly ceased as well. This is anunfortunate dynamic and part of a larger phenomenon that
befalls many reform endeavors in education, including thecritical thinking movement. A critical need is recognized;

Philosophy for Children

mandates are issued; quick fixes are sought; programs aredeveloped; schools rush to embrace the reform, or are pressured to comply; experts are brought in; special training sessions are conducted; and in the end the reform is passed overto be replaced by the next one. Sometimes, programs thatare narrowly targeted at a specific problem are legitimate“quick fixes”. p4c, however, is not a “quick fix”. p4c aims
to create intellectually safe communities that nurture theability to think for oneself in responsible, respectful ways.
This work is transformative and requires sustained, ongoingsupport in order to bring about deep changes that cannot be
accomplished in weekend trainings or through one to threeyear initiatives.
We worried that we did not yet have the resources tobe able to effect lasting change if we cast our net too wide,
and we feared p4c could fall victim to the appeal of the next
big thing and disappear. So, instead of trying to expand to
new schools, we sought schools where the right conditions
obtained: a supportive principal with a faculty who would
make a long-term commitment to p4c. We would focus on
depth, not breadth; on sustained reform, not quick fixes.
Fourteen years ago we had the good fortune to be invited toa school with the requisite conditions of a supportive principal (Bonnie Tabor) and equally supportive faculty—Waikïkï
Elementary School. For several years prior to our joining
them, the faculty and staff at Waikïkï Elementary School had
made Art Costa’s Habits of Mind (HOM) an integral part oftheir school culture. HOM provides a natural, fertile environment for p4c Hawai`i. Like HOM, p4c seeks to create good
thinkers, and we soon found that p4c and HOM mutually
reinforce each other. Our work together there has created a
dynamic synergy among students, faculty, and staff and wehave come to understand the impact on children who experience the cumulative effects of HOM and p4c over the longterm. The results continue to be extraordinary.
Waikïkï Elementary School is now one of our model
schools. We regularly bring visitors—local, national, andinternational—to these schools to witness in person what
schooling can and should be. Our university students visit
them to observe, do research, and work with their remarkable staff and students. Our model schools are beehives ofcreative, caring, innovative energy—vibrant examples ofwhat is possible in public education.
Thirteen years ago p4c made its first appearance at
Kailua High School (KHS), which has become our second

5model school. KHS is another school where the right conditions have obtained: a supportive principal (Francine Honda)
with a faculty who are committed to support p4c for the longterm. From the beginning, two teachers in particular at KHS,
Amber Makaiau and Chad Miller, have made it possible toovercome what had, to that point, been a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to P4C worldwide—difficulty in gaining
traction in teaching P4C beyond the elementary school level.
One of these obstacles is a function of Lipman’s curriculum which requires, in effect, a separate class time for theuse of his texts in P4C sessions. So, in spite of the existenceof Lipman-authored novels for middle and high school, there
is simply no room in the school schedule for implementing
his program of study. Related to this is the widespread notion that philosophy is a discipline onto itself with its own
content and activities. Understood in this way, philosophy isa subject that is suitable only for adults and an activity bestpracticed by professors in university departments of philosophy. I refer to this as “Big-P philosophy.” Lipman’s novels
represent an effort to break away from Big-P philosophy
but our experience with his program, even at the elementarylevel, revealed that his curriculum did not accomplish thisend. In addition, for students in Hawai`i, his curriculum was
too limiting with its focus on Western philosophical traditions and culture. These discoveries spurred our efforts todevelop p4c Hawai`i.
In tackling this problem at the elementary school level, I
developed an approach that I refer to as “little-p philosophy.”
The content of little-p philosophy is the set of beliefs that weall possess to make sense of the world; the activity of little-p
philosophizing is the process of reflecting on these beliefs aspart of our larger interactions with the world. In importantways the content of little-p philosophy is unique to each ofus. It is the result of the particularities of what some philosophers refer to as our “situatedness” in the world and our
responses to them. We also differ in the extent to which weare willing to engage in little-p philosophical activity, which
is an on-going philosophical reflection on our life. Socrates
referred to this as living an examined life. As a result of ourefforts in pursuing little-p philosophy in intellectually safe
communities, and with the creative input of teachers andstudents, we have learned more about how to develop discussions that deepen into philosophical inquiries.
The p4c conception of inquiry captures the philosophicalpart of what happens in our intellectually safe communities.

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Educational Perspectives v Volume 44 v Numbers 1 and 2

The little-p / Big-P distinction has made it possible to view
philosophy not primarily in terms of some specific content,
but as a way of responding to content. Rather than immediately responding to content questions with an answer, little-p
philosophical activity invites us first to pause, inquire into,and pose questions of the content itself. This notion of littlep activity has freed philosophy from an over-reliance on
Big-P content for its sense of legitimacy by focusing insteadon activities that begin with any content or topic, whether
personal or public, academic or practical.
An important addition to the concept of little-p philosophy is my development of the Good Thinker’s Tool Kit(GTTK). The GTTK is an important response to the concernthat teachers express about what makes a question, session,or response philosophical. The Tool Kit captures what I
see as essentially Big-P philosophical types of questions.
The Tool Kit is composed of seven tools. I use the acronym
WRAITEC to describe each of them. Each tool represents atype of philosophical question that can be used individuallyor in concert with others to take thinking about the initialstarting point to a deeper level: What do you mean? What
are your reasons? What assumptions are you making? Whatinferences? Do we know it’s true? Can you give examples
or counter-examples? Such questions can be posed in any
situation or content area.
What teachers like Amber Makaiau and Chad Miller
have been able to do at the high school level is to take thepossibilities of little-p philosophy, along with the rich notionof the “intellectually safe community”, and nurture their
growth. They began by doing this in their own classrooms,
and they have extended the practice to other classrooms intheir departments. Amber and her colleague, Kehau Glassco,
developed a nationally recognized ethnic studies curriculumthat integrated philosophical content and activity. Theircourse rests on the four key pillars of p4c Hawai`i: community, inquiry, philosophy, and reflection. The course inethnic studies/philosophy is now required for all students
who graduate from KHS. Amber and Chad have extended
the p4c Hawai`i approach in ways that have made it not only
the heart of their own teaching at KHS, but also in waysthat have been embraced by their colleagues in the social
studies and English departments, and among the wider KHS
community.
The p4c work at KHS has also been greatly enhancedby the addition, five years ago, of another p4c Hawai`i in-novation, the Philosopher-in-Residence program. Benjamin
Lukey is the current holder of that position. Ben participatesin faculty meetings, assists new teachers in implementing
what Amber has insightfully named the philosopher’s pedagogy, and works with experienced p4c faculty in developing
new ideas such as expanding the philosophers’ pedagogy to
new content areas. The impact and success of their efforts
was acknowledged in a dramatic way by the visit to KHS in
April 2012 of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lamacame specifically to meet with the students and respond to
the questions they had for him.
The Philosopher-in-Residence position has been apowerful addition to p4c Hawai`i in creating a sustainableinfrastructure for meaningful educational transformation.
Any long term change, if it is to be transformative, requires
the kinds of support that keeps the classroom experiencesof the individual teacher in sharp focus. It is then possible
to expand out from that base to include other players,
individuals as well as institutions, who can give shape tolasting reform.
Over the years, p4c Hawai`i has blossomed and theseeds of these developments have been spread by former
students who have carried what they have learned to otherelementary, middle, and high school settings. They havealso been carried further afield to schools and universities on
the US mainland, Europe, China, Mexico, and Japan. Twoformer students in particular Jinmei Yuan, now at Creighton
University in Omaha, Nebraska, and Mitsuyo Toyoda, now
at University of Hyogo, in Himeji, Japan, played decisiveroles in the spread of p4c Hawai`i to China and Japan. Andso, in recent years, far from disappearing, we have felt
ourselves stretched almost to a breaking point, wondering
how we can respond to the many requests for help that wehave received.
Fortunately, new assistance has arrived for p4c Hawai‘iin the person of Noboru Maruyama, a remarkable individual
who is Secretary General of the Uehiro Foundation in
Japan. I first met Maruyama-san in what I now recognize
as a singularly important encounter in the UH Philosophy
Department lounge in 2004. In that brief initial conversation,
we both realized that we shared a vision of the possibilities
of schooling, rightly done, for lasting human change througheducation. As a result of that meeting, he visited Waikïkï
School with me and participated in classroom p4c sessions.
He talked with teachers and the school principal, Bonnie

Philosophy for Children

Tabor, and he became convinced that something very important was happening at Waikïkï Elementary School. Generous
financial support soon came from the Uehiro Foundation,
and we began to arrange annual exchanges where Hawai`iteachers visit classrooms in Japan, and Japanese teachersvisit classrooms in Hawai`i.
In May 2012 our relationship was further strengthened
with a ceremony that featured the signing of a formal
agreement between the Uehiro Foundation of Japan andthe University of Hawai`i at Mänoa whereby the Uehiro
Foundation of Japan pledged $1,250,000 over the next
five years to support the establishment of the Universityof Hawai’i at Mänoa Uehiro Academy for Philosophy andEthics in Education. The Academy is part of the College

7

of Arts and Humanities and is located in its own space in
Sakamaki Hall. Through this generous gift from the Uehiro
Foundation and their commitment to our shared vision for
educational change, we recognize that a whole new era has
begun for our goal of preparing, supporting, and sustaining
educators, researchers and students who engage or areinterested in engaging in p4c worldwide.
In this volume you will meet some of the remarkablepeople who are part of the p4c Hawai`i story. They represent
the people who have played and are continuing to play animportant role in the story that I have been relating about the
coming of P4C to these islands and its transformation into
p4c Hawai`i.