New School Philosophy

Penn undergrads watched as their Philadelphia high school mentees schooled onlookers in college-level philosophy on May 9 as part of the “Pedagogy in Practice: Philosophy and Education in Philadelphia” conference—the culmination of a semester of work in Penn’s Philosophy of Education ABCS (Academically Based Community Service) course, designed and taught by Associate Professor of Philosophy Karen Detlefsen and doctoral student in philosophy Rob Willison. The course brought together Penn undergraduates and local high school students in an effort to both advance the college students’ role as educators and support the high school students’ academic development. Stressing hands-on, real-world problem solving, ABCS courses connect students and faculty with local organizations and initiatives in order to solve critical community issues in a variety of areas related to the environment, health, arts, and education. To date, over 160 ABCS courses from diverse schools and disciplines across the University have engaged in work in West Philadelphia through the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships.
   
Conference topics included policy-based material such as “Deconstructing Gender and Sex Inequalities in Education,” as well as more abstract topics like “The Ethics of Pedagogy.” This was the result of a careful balance of curriculum, says Willison. The first half of the semester focused on teaching philosophy of education heavyweights like Plato, John Stuart Mill, and John Dewey. Midway through, however, the course shifted to applying said philosophers’ theories to more concrete policy-oriented material, like Paul Tough’s Whatever It Takes, a detailing of the development of the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error, a searing critique of the powerful reform agenda. “I was particularly impressed with how the Penn undergraduates managed to mentor the high school students in such a way as to help them make significant strides in their philosophical thinking, while also managing to let the high school students’ own philosophical views steer the discussion,” says Detlefsen.

Detlefsen and Willison worked with Philadelphia Futures, a program that supports Philadelphia high school students in public schools who would be the first in their family to attend college, to find participants for the program. “We could have had our undergraduates simply go to the high schools and do one-off tutoring, but it was essential to us that we wedded course content with a more dedicated service aspect,” says Willison. This translated into a semester-long project where each week college students collaborated on teaching the material, working toward the final concepts to be presented at the conference. “This course is truly one of the most impactful courses I have taken here at Penn,” says Camara Brown, C’17. “I have taken ABCS classes before, but the structure of our engagement with the high schoolers allowed us to really develop relationships with many of the students and have thought-provoking discussions.”

In addition to the formal teaching sessions, each Saturday the entire group gathered for lunch, crucial to building camaraderie between the two age groups. “On the first morning that we gathered for the Saturday Philosophy Club, we were asked to write down a great experience we had with a teacher in the past,” says Naomi Stark, C’16. “Karen told us that while these types of spontaneous exercises can be difficult, seemingly unanswerable questions can provoke the most enriching answers, a lesson I will treasure.”

The course has had a lasting impact on the Penn undergraduate mentors, in many cases steering their future academic and service choices. “It ended up having such an effect on me that I decided to apply for education policy jobs in D.C.,” says Eliza Rothstein, C’16, who cited her lesson planning sessions with other undergrads as a crucial window into teaching. “I'm now planning to work at the Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement this summer.”

Samuel Muneton, C’18, cites his engagement with the high school students as one of the most memorable experiences of his entire academic year. “Exploring what it meant to educate an individual in regard to his or her needs, or those of society, offered an interesting perspective not only on our education, but that of those all over the United States as well,” he says.

The dedicated collaboration between the high school students and the undergraduates brought forth insightful presentations that revealed the mentees’ passion for philosophy, Detlefsen adds. “Two other students are developing a curriculum to teach to 12th graders in West Philadelphia High School. We’re partnering with a social studies teacher there, and the undergraduates will teach their material in the spring of 2016.”

What’s next for the course? “We want to continue with our current group of high school students to help them develop and polish their writing skills,” says Detlefsen, who is in favor of turning the course into a regular event running on two-year cycles. “We would find a group of high schoolers to meet with throughout next year, and then the following year that group of students would be joined by another Penn undergraduate class to once again prepare for a conference and prepare written papers, which we might print in journal form for the students to keep as a mark of their achievement.”

The conference was funded with help from the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the official student government body for graduate and professional students at Penn, representing over 10,000 students across twelve graduate schools.

To learn more about ABCS, click here.