Invitation to Pre-college Philosophy

"As a master's student in philosophy at Ewha Womans University in South Korea, I joined the Ewha Saturday Philosophy Class (ESPC), a Philosophy for Children (P4C) program, as both an organizer and lecturer. ESPC is a semester-long, biweekly program for students ages 8-16, based on Matthew Lipman's P4C curriculum. As a philosophy Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa, I've been co-teaching middle school students at ESPC (this time online) and participating in the Iowa Lyceum, a week-long online summer philosophy program for high school"

"Whenever I meet a philosopher-whether a professional academic or someone who just seriously engages with philosophy-I always ask: How did you get into philosophy? What was your first exposure to it? The answers are never the same, and often they're really sweet. I ask not only because I love hearing these stories, but also because I'm passionate about introducing people to philosophy early in life."

A graduate student became involved in pre-college philosophy over eight years ago by joining the Ewha Saturday Philosophy Class (ESPC), a semester-long, biweekly P4C program for ages 8–16 based on Matthew Lipman's curriculum. Participation included roles as organizer and lecturer and later included co-teaching middle school students online and running the Iowa Lyceum, a week-long online summer philosophy program for high school students organized by graduate students. Early K–12 education in South Korea lacked formal philosophy exposure, producing initial misunderstandings about philosophy's relevance. College study in media sparked a desire to engage with justice and goodness, prompting sustained involvement in pre-college philosophy and encouragement for graduate student participation.

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