ectors. When she and her students study applied ethics, for example, they ask big philosophical questions about genetic enhancement: Should we produce designer babies? Is cloning morally sound?
"My students will come back from their science classes and talk about what they learned that day," Cohen says. "And then in their science class they'll apply some of the concepts we talked about in philosophy."
In English class, the benefits are even more obvious. Many of the students Cohen teaches are juniors and seniors, which means they are right in the throes of prepping for the SAT and AP exams. The skills learned in philosophy — reason, argument, logic — are essential to aceing the written part of those tests.
"They have to be able to have the argument before they can express the argument," Cohen says.
Making room for philosophy
While Cohen has the luxury of seeing students five days a week for an entire school year, most elementary schools don't offer electives. But Lone is skeptical of schools that claim they don't have the time or money.
"You don't have to teach a philosophy class in order to get philosophical inquiry into the classroom," says Lone, who has conducted several webinars on non-philosophy teachers bringing concepts into their studies. "These questions come up in every subject."
Discussions about America's suburban sprawl after World War II can spark conversation on personal identity. Simple geometric proofs use logical thinking skills. And the best part, according to Lone, is that philosophy is democratic, so anyone can find a voice.
"I'll see a child really struggling to articulate what it is he or she is thinking, and the other kids, by April or May, are just quietly sitting there for him or her to finish," she says. "It's really powerful for me to see, and I see it almost every year."