Growing Up with Philosophy Camp

In this splendid collection of essays written by philosophy camps facilitators and campers – professors and high school students together- Claire Katz shows the tremendously positive impact that philosophy can have on youth. Engaging with philosophy enhances self-confidence and critical thinking, as well as responsibility, respect and solidarity. This book is compelling evidence that philosophy is relevant to everyday life and helps people young and old think, feel and connect. -- Annabel Herzog, Professor of Political Theory, University of Haifa
Summer camp is, as a concept, under-theorized and under-appreciated. For many coming-of-age minors, summer camp serves as one of their first civic-associational experiences, a formative exercise in learning how to get along with strangers, away from local friends and family. But why should that experience be limited to hiking, tennis, or Python boot camp? Why not introduce tweens and teens to the pleasures of thinking, and awakening them to the joys of thoughtful discussion with each other? Claire Katz and the contributors to Growing Up With Philosophy Camp: How Thinking Develops Friendship, Community, and a Sense of Self explain the rationale and the on-the-ground success of the innovative philosophy summer camps they have organized. If only my own children would have had such an opportunity! -- John Seery, George Irving Thompson Memorial Professor of Government and Professor of Politics
If you have ever wondered about a philosophy camp, questioned its value, or considered hosting one at your institution, then these books are for you. With a robust introductory essay, and nine carefully focused chapters written by experienced practitioners from across the world and scintillating selections from campers and parents, Growing Up with Philosophy Camp offers a wealth of insights about why philosophy camps are a singularly transformative experience. In short, philosophy camps provide occasion pre-college students to engage in serious, open-ended discussions with their peers, exercise and improve their thinking, and participate in communal and creative problem-solving—as well as lots of good old-fashioned fun. Together, these readable essays provide a compelling argument for why pre-college students should have the opportunity to do philosophy. Moreover, they demonstrate the value of reawakening wonder in our young people and nourishing their natural inclination to make sense of the world. Philosophy Camps for Youth provides practical guidance on every aspect of hosting a philosophy camp, from management, training and marketing to curriculum and pedagogical practice. Just as philosophy camps inspire the allegiance of returning campers, these expertly edited books will inspire the loyalty of returning readers. -- Megan Jane Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
This important book of essays demonstrates beyond any doubt that philosophy camps offer every bit as much as sports and art camps as the go-to place to send our children for enrichment. Indeed, the opportunities these camps provide to develop young hearts and minds through confronting life’s big questions and some of philosophy’s most well-known thinkers are unique. In this rich collection, facilitators, parents, and students testify to transformative experiences that enhance cognitive, emotional, and social capacities to live a better life. -- Cynthia Willett, Samuel Candler Dobbs professor of philosophy, Emory University; coauthor, "Uproarious: How Feminists and Other Comic Subversives Speak Truth"
Democracy is currently at risk - do we have the skills to make it work? What are those skills? It is not unusual to find authors suggesting that humanities education is important for a successful democracy. But the model of humanities education that would accomplish this is, at best, obscure, and at worst, elitist. Growing Up with Philosophy Camp offers a model of doing philosophy in community and establishing friendships in a process of collective open-ended inquiry. This is a model that can form a basis for democratic citizenship where our different backgrounds and values do not stand between us, but enrich us. -- Sally Haslanger, Ford Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Aristotle once suggested that there was a paradox at the core of learning philosophy: old folks could learn philosophy but didn't have enough of their lives left to practice it; kids had lots of time but little interest in learning. Katz has compiled significant evidence to the contrary. Not only can young adults learn philosophical lessons that transform and enrich their lives, but they will spend their precious summers doing it. Get the kids ready, give them the chance, and they will become philosophy campers. -- John Kaag, author, “Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are”
Philosophy, as described by the contributors to this book, is an increasingly rare variety of the rigorous, erotic, collective human search for meaning, as necessary for the very young as for the no-longer young. A hybrid variety, resulting from centuries of cross-cultural fertilization, it is today threatened by fundamentalist and capitalist ideologies and by the pitifully narrow vision of education that appears in their overlap. In this dreary cultural landscape, the camps described here are greenhouses where genuine philosophy—carefully nurtured by adults, teens, and children together—flourishes, and from where it is transplanted where it is most needed: the school, the home, and the street. -- Maughn Gregory, Professor of Educational Foundations, Philosophy for Children Program, Montclair University
This book should change the way we think about the teaching and importance of philosophy in the 21st century. The evidence of the innovative summer philosophy camps run in the US and beyond demonstrates how philosophy, well taught, can promote the ability of young people in Middle and High School to ask and own their questions and to debate in productive and effective ways. It also shows that this process creates reflective and long-lasting friendships. As the campers, their parents, and the camp facilitators reveal in these essays, philosophy needs to play a greater role in American education and in our civic life. -- Emily Grosholz, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy, African American Studies and English; Member, Center for Fundamental Theory / Institute of Gravitation and the Cosmos. The Pennsylvania State University
This breathtaking tour de force synthesizes the voices of ancient and contemporary Philosophers, academics, students and their families following immersive experiences of Philosophy Camps underpinned with the Philosophy with Children pedagogy developed by Ann-Margaret Sharp and Matthew Lipman. These reflections offer a profound meditation on the lived experience of authentic human connection through philosophical dialogue. Inspirational and informative, Growing Up With Philosophy Camp will prove invaluable to anyone interested in exploring this transformational approach to teaching philosophy. -- Marelle Rice, director, The Thinker's Midwife; director, Philosophy Ireland
Growing Up with Philosophy Camp describes the unique benefits of youth philosophy camps, from the perspectives of camp organizers and leaders, campers, and parents. Thought-provoking and inspiring, the book provides a window into the ways in which philosophy camp can support young people’s intellectual, emotional, creative, ethical, and social growth, and the potential transformative effects on everyone, adults and youth, who participates in this experience. -- Jana Mohr Lone, director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children
Philosophy camps are an impactful, and, as this book reveals, transformative approach to introducing children to philosophy. With chapters from experienced philosophy camp directors and facilitators as well as camper and parent reflections, this text is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy for children and the growing philosophy camp movement. -- Michael D. Burroughs, President, PLATO, Founding Editor, Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice; Director, Kegley Institute of Ethics; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, CSU Bakersfield
Childhood is a time for naive questions, and so is the study of philosophy. Growing Up with Philosophy Camp wonderfully shows how the two naturally go together. -- Alex Byrne, Department Head and Professor, Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT
After I, along with my nine-year old, attended a Philosophy for Children workshop at the Western Political Science Association, I was convinced of the program’s significance. In fact, I now apply many of these strategies in my own efforts to create a “community of inquiry” in my undergraduate courses. Growing Up With Philosophy Camp not only explores the philosophical and pedagogical foundations of pre-college philosophy programs, it also shows these programs work, preparing children to be successful students and, more importantly, engaged democratic citizens. This remarkable book is essential reading for educators, parents, and anyone interested in providing our children with the critical tools necessary for “friendship, community, and a sense of self” in a complex and uncertain world. -- George V. Davis, Associate Professor, Political Science, Marshall University
A thoughtful and interesting portrayal of what is distinctive and special about philosophy camps, this book shows how they engage with young people in more profound and creative ways than most schools are able to do. The authors’ experiences and reflections shed a warm and refreshing light on our understanding of philosophy that emphasizes the value of community and friendship. Many examples from campers, facilitators and parents are moving in revealing the positive impact that philosophy camps have had on the whole family and relationships at home. -- Lizzy Lewis, Partnerships Manager, SAPERE, the national charity supporting Philosophy for Children (P4C)