Philosophy for Children

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Philosophy for Children
Angela Kim
When I was first introduced to p4c Hawai‘i, it made mecringe. I wasn’t sure what it was all about, but it reminded
me of a miserable past experience of sitting in a circle.
Sitting in circles is the sort of activity that I try to avoid inlife. During my junior year at high school, I attended a leadership camp at the recommendation of a teacher. My parents
signed me up. Leadership camp involved activities wheregroups spread out across the library all sitting in circles. The
group I was in involved sharing what kind of person we wereand how we might change once we went to college. My turncame, and I said I didn’t think I would change that much. It
was clear that my response wasn’t creative enough. The senior facilitator, who was a popular girl in our school of morethan two thousand students, dismissed my contribution. She
explained that going to college was like starting with a cleanslate and that we could be a new person—anyone we wantedto be. I wasn’t about to speak up again, but I wanted to yell,“I like who I am. Why should I change?” I felt irritated at not
being acknowledged. I wanted to shout out: “This is stupid!
Who cares! If we change, we change. Why talk about it?”I have always felt that conversations like these were awaste of time, and this incident validated it for me. I didn’t
see the point. We sat and talked about issues until the cows
came home, but when it was over, nothing had changed. The
world was exactly the same, after this supposedly “worldchanging” conversation. Besides being a waste of time, I felt
it was a waste of emotions. On the last night of the leadership camp, everyone sat in one big circle. It was an open
discussion in which everyone was free to share. Emotions
began to pour out as sensitive topics were touched upon. I sat
dry-eyed, glancing at the clock, while others wept. It was apainful experience for me to endure.
Now that I am a fifth-grade teacher, I have the sameview about group sharing events. When I heard p4c Hawai‘iwas about sitting in a circle and sharing thoughts, ideas, andfeelings, the excitement it produced in me was about thesame as the prospect of doing yard duty. It was not something I wanted to do. However, I am in the minority as mostof the teachers at my school are cheerleaders for p4c.

When a p4c Hawai‘i course was first offered to ourteachers, I was adamant about not signing up. In the lunchroom, faculty conversation turned to the topic of the course.
One teacher told me it was great, and it had changed hislife. I told him I liked my life and didn’t want it to change.
Leadership camp all over again. I suppose I’m not a huge
fan of change. But gradually, the sign-up sheet was getting
filled—even by teachers who claimed not to be interested in
p4c. But the course did offer three very tempting credits, andit would be taught afterschool, on our campus, which made itvery convenient. I was desperately in need of credits and theprice was considerably less than other classes I had taken. I
began to view the course as an attractive option. I wavereda bit, and then I tried to convince a fellow teacher to sign upwith me. She would be just as uncomfortable in the course,and I’d have an empathetic partner while getting my credits.
I figured if I could convince her, I could convince myself inthe process. We both reluctantly signed up.
I was told that Dr. Thomas Jackson, aka Dr. J, would
guide the p4c discussions in my class. If I was going to givethis p4c thing a try, I wanted to be sure that when I rejected
it, it wasn’t because I didn’t work with the best and most expert teacher of philosophy for children. Dr. J is the best, andhe is widely adored by the students at our school. When hewalks through the halls, children flock to his side just to hear
his Donald Duck impression and to ask when he’d be coming to their class next. He always smiles, and the children
see him more as a peer than an adult. He was very genuine
and was always excited about something, even if it was justchocolate. I love chocolate; so I could, at least, relate to him
on that level. But that didn’t mean I approved of p4c.
A group of “newbies” gathered together in the p4ccourse. We were newbies, not because we were new to theschool, but because we were the p4c holdouts and had neverconducted p4c alone in our class. We were the skeptics—theones who would roll our eyes whenever we heard the words,“Let’s make a big circle.” The p4c sceptics would “pass”
when the community ball ended up in our hands. If any oneof us shared something, the others felt betrayed. There was

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Educational Perspectives ❖ Volume 44 ❖ Numbers 1 and 2

never really any pressure to share, unless, of course, it was
the pressure we put on ourselves. Dr. J was always pleased
with the outcome of each discussion despite the level ofparticipation.
At the beginning of the course, our newbie group allreceived articles about p4c printed on lovely purple paper.
We all agreed to read them by the time we were to meetagain. I started to read one of the articles, but then something
distracted me. I don’t remember what it was. It might havebeen the dishes or fatigue or boredom, but I never did finish
it. And apparently none of the other newbies finished theirreadings, either. Philosophy for children was a world wewere unfamiliar with. I still wasn’t on board when it wastime for my fifth graders first p4c session, but then I wasonly there to observe Dr. J at work.
My fifth grade class that year was an interesting group,
to say the least. They were a class of extremes— academic aswell as athletic. The personalities of the students werealso quite different. Some liked to speak up in class; others
did not. We even had extremes when it came to physicalheight. I was curious to see how p4c would work for thisdiverse class.
At our first p4c session, Dr. J and his college student“groupies” introduced themselves to the students. Dr. J
always travels with two or three students from the university
who are just as excited about p4c as he is. The students seemvery typical college students—young, wide-eyed, inquisitive,
and perhaps a little nervous. My students loved having thesecool visitors. If they couldn’t sit beside Dr. J, they wanted tosit next to one of these young philosophers. After the introductions, Dr. J started the process of making a communityball. It started with a ball of yarn and the end was slowly
wrapped around a paper towel core as each child shared alittle about themselves. The yarn wrapping, I realized, kept
the children from being nervous and by the time everyone
had shared, the ball had been made with every student in
the class contributing. The end result was a community ball,which was to be used for future sessions. The rule is that if
you have the community ball, you have the floor. Sharing
always starts out with something simple. Students could
share their name and maybe their favorite thing to do. As
I observed the students, they didn’t seem too nervous withthis task. If a student was nervous or had nothing to say they
simply said “pass” and that was acceptable. No big deal
was made and, towards the end of the session, the students

who had passed were given another chance to share if theywanted to.
It all seemed harmless enough, but there was somethingthat I found very frustrating about p4c. I love talking withfriends and sharing my life and thoughts when I feel comfortable. But, when I feel put on the spot and all eyes are onme, I can’t think clearly. At times like these I don’t want
to share, but, at the same time, I don’t not want to share. Iwant to be able to say something that makes everyone nod
and agree or laugh or even say, “Wow! What a profoundthought!” But, when I get nervous, all that’s in my headis, “Crap! It’s my turn.” Heck! It was hard enough raising
my hand in a group. I had to raise it at just the right time
so I could get the community ball passed to me before mythought became irrelevant to the discussion but not so early
that I was interrupting the speaker’s thoughts. And here I
was putting my students in this same frustrating situation,and instead of being sympathetic, I was irritated that they
weren’t all participating. It’s twisted, I know. I’m the sort ofteacher who wants my students to raise their hands to answer
a question. But, I’m the type of student who would rather sit
back and let others do the answering. I suppose I’m afraid
I’ll say something stupid. And yet, as a teacher, I encourage
my students to speak up and try to give an answer or express
an opinion. Maybe those high school circles left me more
scarred than I realized. In p4c, I had to learn to put aside
my own fears about participation and give the students thepatience and acceptance that I would have wanted.
As we progressed with p4c in our class, we moved on
to discuss more specific topics. The students volunteered
ideas and voted on them. Eventually, after some debate, atopic would be chosen. Choosing the topic gave the studentsownership over the conversation. The students became theadvocates and the experts. I began to notice that the students’communication skills were improving and that I didn’t haveto referee as often. Students were becoming better at waiting
patiently for the community ball instead of interrupting, andsome of the reluctant speakers began raising their hands toshare. I appreciated this positive growth in the students. The
same behaviors were also occurring beyond p4c, at othertimes of the day. But I still harbored some doubts about thevalue of what was being discussed. Yet, after each session,Dr. J was always so positive. He would say, “Wow! You
have an amazing group of children!” Or he would be in aweof the topic the students had chosen, and I would be think-

Philosophy for Children

ing to myself, “Why did we just spend forty-five minutes
discussing whether a tomato is a vegetable or a fruit?”
As we continued with p4c, in spite of my doubts, I
observed a shift in the discussions. I could see the students
beginning to feel more safe and free to share their ideas. Ihad held myself back from taking over and controlling theconversation, unless a student was making others feel unsafe
by interrupting or verbally attacking them. But as the students became aware of what was acceptable and not acceptable, they began to feel secure in sharing and commenting,even the quiet ones. I enjoyed seeing this transformation,
because I identified with the quiet students. I knew if they
were sharing, it was because they wanted to and not because
they were being forced. They were genuinely comfortable,
as if they were talking to a friend or a family member. They
weren’t being put on the spot. And as they grew more confident, the topics gradually became deeper and more searching. We went from “What if ants ruled the world?” to “Whydo people get drunk?” Some people might say both topics
aren’t very philosophical. But, the real change wasn’t justin the topic; it was how the students talked about the topic.
They began to share personal life experiences. They becameless inhibited and showed respect for what each person said.
They realized they could learn from each other even if they
had different thoughts, ideas, and experiences. The students
were well aware of the fact that anything shared in p4c wasnever to be used as ammunition against each other. I was
pleasantly surprised to see this rule respected. Perhaps thefirst few sessions were learning experiences in which the students could observe how their teacher and peers would react
to what was being shared. When the p4c circle proved to bea safe place to talk about difficult themes, they began to openup. Soon the sessions became more about life. And I learned
more and more about who the students really were and about
their personal issues and interests. I began to empathize withthem. It helped to guide me in my teaching so that I could
target my instruction more individually.
I also noticed they were becoming good critical thinkers
by using the thinkers toolkit, and I found myself learningfrom my students. One student might ask, “Why can’tpeople think for themselves?” and another student might
respond with “Would you explain your question?” or “Canyou give us an example of when someone didn’t think forthemselves?” They wanted to know exactly what the otherwas asking, not what they thought she was asking. I assumed

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I knew what the student was asking based on my perceptions
and soon found I was wrong. The students would not only
ask for clarification of questions, but of comments and evenwords. One discussion topic was about whether or not testing
was a good idea. The word “smart” came up and someone
asked, “What do we mean by ‘smart’?” I began to see whyso many teachers had incorporated p4c into their weeklyroutine. As the students gained more opportunities to use
and practice critical thinking in p4c, they began to apply it
outside the p4c sessions in other lessons.
I can see now why these college students were an asset
to have around. They were still very inquisitive and creativein their thinking. I remember college being the time of life
when I asked the most questions, when I wondered the most,and when I was the most creative and daring in my thinking.
And here were my fifth graders practicing college levelthinking. Dr. J and the college students were in the same intellectual place and so they could relate to the students. I wasstill trying to find a balance between being a disciplinarian, afacilitator, and a participant open to sharing my thoughts andquestions with my students. I found myself a little nervous
even in our own little p4c circle. It was like I was in college
all over again, except that I was the biggest students. With
each p4c session, the discussions, questions, and comments
resembled more and more a college classroom rather than anelementary one.
I can no longer call p4c Hawai‘i a waste of time. I could
see that there was a huge difference between the discussion
circles of my past and p4c circles. There was safety in p4c
and there was continuity. It wasn’t meant for one warm andfuzzy experience. It was there to assist in building a community of inquiry. With each conversation, genuine bonds werebeing developed, not at a rapid pace, but at a slow enoughpace so the bonds were strong.
It soon became clear that the students weren’t the only
ones benefiting from p4c. I was beginning to think about
things in a deeper way and ask questions about what wasreally being said. The other day I was reading a book andthe author was trying to help me understand that there wasno clear and universally accepted definition of “good.” I
was with him on that, but as I continued to read I thought,“He’s making a lot of assumptions.” I was aware of this only
because p4c asks students not to take questions at their facevalue, but to ask what they assume. So, being a participant in
p4c has also helped me become a better thinker.

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Educational Perspectives ❖ Volume 44 ❖ Numbers 1 and 2

Philosophy for children doesn’t change the world, but
it has the potential to change individual worlds and assist in
creating world changers. I’m learning all of this slowly butsurely. I have come to a new place where I feel that I’ll soon
be able to facilitate sessions without the help of Dr. J or oneof his college groupies. I may even remove the “newbie”
label I’ve enjoyed for so long. But, like Dr. J always says,“We’re not in a rush.” I’m just settling into the idea that thisp4c thing has its perks, and that’s something I’d like to shareat our next staff p4c session.