Children Inspired By Philosophy

By Erin L. Cole

When the Miami University Philosophy Department started to ask how to morally improve U.S. culture and society, the answer seemed easy to philosophy Professor James Kelly.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Participants of last summer's workshop discuss ways to incorporate free discussion time into their current curriculums.

"Start with the children," Kelly said. "They are the beginning to everything."

It was from there that a foundation for a summer workshop for elementary school teachers, dubbed the Institute on Philosophy for Children, was born.

Last summer, 23 elementary school teachers from the Cincinnati area attended the Institute, which was geared toward showing teachers how to facilitate meaningful, reasonable discussions in the classroom starting in first grade.

"The idea behind this is that children will learn how to think reasonably and give conclusions to support their beliefs," Kelly said. "As a result of this, they in turn will hold others to the same standards and will therefore not be subjected to believing everything they see or hear.

The workshop featured lectures on the importance of exposing elementary school children to humanistic thinking, which involves making informed decisions based on information available and emphasizing how important of a role teacher's play in their students' development.

"The best thing about these speakers was learning practical ideas that I could easily incorporate into existing lesson plans," said Nancy Wojick, fourth-grade teacher at Summit Country Day elementary school in Cincinnati and a participant in last summer's Institute.

Another session, taught by two elementary school teachers from New Jersey, focused on showing teachers how they could incorporate time for free, reasonable discussion among children into the school day.

Karen Duhs, a third-grade teacher at Summit Country Day elementary school has been making time for these discussions in her classroom. Children are responding positively, she said.

"I've been trying to allow the children more time to think, to think about their answers and be able to compose clear thoughts to share," said Duhs. "The children like this form of casual discussion because they are involved in more formal discussions all day. They feel ownership here."

Discussions where humanistic thinking is emphasized revolve around topics from children's literature to art to music.

The Institute was such a success that Kelly has started a program on campus titled, "Teachers as Scholars." This program continues to build on the original idea: that arming children with reasoning skills allows them to make more intelligent, informed decisions, but is structured more as a discussion forum rather than a teaching workshop.

Kelly meets with elementary school teachers and other members of the Philosophy Department faculty to discuss ways to further implement this way of thinking into an elementary school curriculum.

"We are merely trying to find ways to help children grasp what are responsible and irresponsible responses for human beings in various situations," said Kelly, who has been teaching at Miami since 1980, primarily on the Hamilton campus.

Kelly says children can be exposed to this way of thinking throughout various mediums.

"The culture of children includes songs, poetry, art, video, TV programs, films, toys and games," Kelly said. "It is in this culture we should introduce them to life and it's possibilities."

This summer Kelly will concentrate on pursuing funding from the National Endowment for Humanities to attend a one-month resident program focusing on humanistic thinking and children during the summer of 2004. Here Kelly can gain knowledge and ideas for further institutes he hopes to host at Miami University.

"I would love to hold an institute this summer," Kelly said. "but it's just too tough to get funding."

If funding does come through, plenty of teachers will line up to attend.

"I would definitely recommend this workshop to a friend," Wojick said. "In fact, I'd like to participate in another if I could find one."

Kelly hopes that more teachers will be exposed to this way of thinking and incorporate it into their classrooms.

"It is vital to teach children to express ideas but also to support and question them," Kelly said. "This is what we strive to do."