1. Philosophy as a Tool for Ameliorating Educational Disadvantage Thomas E. Wartenberg Mount Holyoke College Victoria University Wellington

2. Mount Holyoke College Student Teaching Philosophy

3. James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men In every child who is born, under no matter what circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again: and in him, too, once more, and of each of us, our terrific responsibility toward human life; toward the utmost idea of goodness, of the horror of terror, and of God... And ‘education,’ whose function is at the crisis of this appalling responsibility, does not seem to me to be all, or even anything, that it might be.... (290-91)

4. Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

6. Mount Holyoke Students at MLKCSE

7. A Practice Session

11. Introduction to Philosophy for Second Graders http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org

12. Bravery (Ethics)

13. Social and Political Philosophy

14. Essential Properties (Metaphysics)

15. Informal Logic

16. Philosophy of Language

17. Aesthetics (Philosophy of Art)

18. Environmental Ethics

19. The Chart How Old the Boy Is and What He Wants How the tree respondsIs the Tree Happy?Did the Boy Ask for Too Much A young boy He swings in the tree Nothing Yes A teenager He wants money for a date He gives him his applesYes A Young Man He wants wood for a house Gives the Man/boy his branches Yes A Middle Aged Man He wants a boat Gives the Man/boy his trunk Not really An old man To rest Lets him sit on the stumnp he has become Yes

20. A Sample Discussion The Giving Tree

21. What students learn 1. To love books

22. What students learn 2. How to say what they think For videos please visit: http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/Main_Page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5wuHRyHez0

23. What students learn 3. Self-Confidence

24. What students learn 4. Understanding Arguments Walker, Wartenberg, and Winner, forthcoming A chart illustrating the results of a research project demonstrating children’s increased level of understanding arguments had to removed pending publication

25. What students learn 5. Putting College onto their Radar Screen

26. What students learn 6. Creating Enthusiasm for Learning