Oceanside High School students teach big topics with elementary kids

Oceanside High School students got a chance to teach some thought-provoking topics on Nov.28 when they visited Oceanside School 4 to introduce the rules of philosophy.

10th-graders at Oceanside High School made three visits, to the school in two weeks, and each time they introduced rules of philosophy, such as listening, respecting others’ opinions, saying what you think, and explaining why, to the younger students. They read and discussed ideas in the picture books, “Frederick” and “Frog and Toad.”

“Picture books are so naturally rich in philosophical topics but the bigger picture of all this is building a framework for questioning at the youngest of ages,” said Mitch Bickman, the district’s Director of Social Studies. “Kids take the initiative to ask more questions after experiencing this.”

The program has been ongoing for the past nine years with the goal being to encourage students to think critically about ideas, about their thinking, and being able to engage in respectful discussion.

“I think teaching the kids about philosophy shows them that everyone can think about different things and have different perspectives,” said sophomore, Jordyn Davis.

The students’ philosophical teachings are based on the work of Professor Thomas E. Wartenberg and his “big ideas for little kids” curriculum. The High school students discussed several philosophical topics including the the nature of work, and what it means to be brave. This year, the High School students taught the lesson to special education classes for the first time.

“We think it applies to everybody,” said High School social studies teacher Laura Trongard on the philosophy program. “They don’t expect them to have these deep conversations but it gives the kids a lot of confidence to come in here and lead the room and take a leadership role.”

Many of the 10th-grade students were fully prepared for the presentation and were excited to have the opportunity to lead the classroom.

We really enjoyed doing this,” said sophomore, Jackson Cherrick. “We were really surprised with how easily they were able to understand the concept of what we were trying to teach and we enjoyed them as a group and the children were really into the topic and what we were teaching in 30 minutes. They said they understood it and they all had something important to contribute.”