Giving Compass' Take:

• At Rollins college, undergraduate students are guiding preschoolers through civic discourse curriculum with games, books, and projects that teach "philosophical rules" to children. 

• Can these types of lessons also be replicated at the elementary, middle, and high school levels? What is the potential impact of emphasizing civic discourse skills on students at an early age?

• Read more about teaching democracy and lasting civic engagement. 

The American people are stuck. Careful listening, deep reflection and efforts at civil persuasion are all but gone from public discourse. Opinions are polarized on quite basic questions: Is scientific evidence better than personal experience? What is our responsibility to people on either side of our borders? Can individuals be good political leaders without being fundamentally good people? With personal attacks and name calling on both sides of the political spectrum, Americans seem to lack the skills to come to consensus without coming to blows.

What role can our schools play in resolving this civic gridlock? Imagine a world where high school graduates across the country were adept at engaging civilly across the aisle, articulating and refining their ideas and moving forward collectively on controversial issues.

This, sadly, is not the world we live in.

At Rollins College, we are approaching these problems from either end of the K-12 system. Bringing together expertise in philosophy (Kenyon), early-childhood education (Terorde-Doyle) and developmental psychology (Carnahan), we have developed a series of philosophy for children (P4C) courses in which undergraduates guide preschool children through discussions of ethical questions. What does it mean to be a friend? To be brave? What makes an action fair?

Through a combination of games, carefully chosen picture books and art projects, we provide rich opportunities for children to disagree with each other. These lesson plans are now available in our book, "Ethics for the Very Young: A Philosophy Curriculum for Early Childhood Education," published by Rowman and Littlefield.

Our curriculum helps children practice the “philosophy rules” — listen, think, respond. These rules for dialogue distill philosophical techniques that go back at least as far as Socrates.

Read the full article about civic discourse by Erik Kenyon, Sharon Carnahan and Diane Terorde-Doyle at Education Dive.