Philosophy For Children

The Dao De Jing exists on the border between poetry and philosophy, embracing both mythos and logos. Its poetic form can stand alone, but it is enriched when its timeless ideas are analyzed and explained through careful scholarship. For example: He who knows others is knowledgeable. He who knows himself is wise. These words resemble Socrates' account of his own quest in Plato's Apology.

This book argues that children with high self-esteem do better in school, and outlines the positive steps that parents can take to empower their children to meet life's challenges.

Do you know what goes on in a typical classroom? Do you feel an irrational fear of authority and confidence in yourself? This book reveals the dark agenda of the modern schooling system and its toxic effects on both pupils and teachers alike.

In From Reopen to Reinvent, distinguished education strategist Michael B. Horn delivers a provocative and eye-opening call to action for the overthrow of an education system that is not working well for any of its students. Grounded in what educators should build in its place to address the challenges that stem from widespread unmet learning needs, the book walks listeners through the design of a better path forward. It offers a prescriptive and holistic approach to the purpose of schooling, the importance of focusing on mastery for each student, and the ideal use of technology.

Humankind has always wrestled with the existence of suffering. For two centuries, many American ministers, physicians, and scientists believed that an omnipotent and omniscient God created the world such that people might relieve suffering through ingenuity and learning. Others responded to the new worldview introduced by the scientific revolution as a threat to the divine order. In Imagining Progress, Kristin Johnson traces the history of Americans' evolving relationship with science and religion at "one of its most dramatic places"—the bedsides of dying children.

Schools have long meant more than an education in America. Flawed, inequitable, underfunded, and segregated, they remain the most important engine of social mobility and the crucible of our democracy. The cost of closing them for so long during COVID, made with good intentions, has not been fully reckoned with. In The Stolen Year, Anya Kamenetz follows families across the country through the pandemic. She dives deep into the history that brought us to this point, making the case that 2020 wasn't a lost year—it was taken from our children by years of neglect and bad faith.

In 2014, after a brief orientation course and a few fingerprinting sessions, Nicholson Baker became an on-call substitute teacher in a Maine public school district. He awoke to the dispatcher's five-forty a.m. phone call and headed to one of several nearby schools; when he got there, he did his best to follow lesson plans and help his students get something done. What emerges from Baker's experience is a complex, often touching deconstruction of public schooling in America.

You need to hear the bad news first: the results of STEM outreach to girls haven’t improved in twenty years. The good news? This book will tell you why, and how to fix it. Currently, dated narratives push girls away in fear, and blind spots result in missed opportunities to pull them in. While efforts to increase diversity in science and mathematics have succeeded, outreach has largely ignored engineering—where there is still only one woman for every five men. This is especially troubling because engineering offers vastly more jobs than other STEM fields.

The safeguarding and child protection challenges in education have never been more complex, nor the legal duties on schools and colleges more stringent. The criminal and sexual exploitation of children, FGM, radicalization, and online safety are sadly all now part of the remit, as are self-harm and mental health issues. And these safeguarding challenges are found not only in urban communities but also in leafy suburbs and rural idylls throughout.

The ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius compared children to tender sprouts, shaped by soil, sunlight, water, and, importantly, the efforts of patient farmers and gardeners. At times, children require our protection, other times we must take a step back and allow them to grow. A practical parenting manual, philosophical reflection on the relationship between parent and child, and necessary response to modern stereotypes of Eastern parenting, Little Sprouts and the Dao of Parenting reconsiders cultural definitions of success....

Over the past decade, educational instruction has become increasingly digitized as districts rush to dole out laptops and iPads to every student. Yet the most important question, “Is this what is best for students?” is glossed over. Veteran teachers Joe Clement and Matt Miles have seen firsthand how damaging technology overuse and misuse has been to our kids. On a mission to educate and empower parents, they show how screen saturation at home and school has created a wide range of cognitive and social deficits in our young people.

This children's book explores the creation of the universe and various forms of existence from the perspective of "Infinite Intelligence." It covers themes of evolution of consciousness of life forms and different types of thinking. It shows by example how philosophy's age-old mind-body problem is solved.

Whether your child is already in the Montessori world or they are in the traditional schooling system, you can turn your home into a source of learning, creativity, and independence. This book is here to provide you with the theoretical framework and the practical knowledge you need to help your child excel academically, target behavioral issues, and work with (instead of against) their individual strengths.

Each year, more and more emphasis is placed on achieving good results in the end-of-school exams. This can lead to students feeling extraordinary pressure and having unrealistic expectations. In this all-new and completely revised edition of the best-selling Surviving Year 12, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Australia's leading adolescent psychologist, gives advice to parents on how they can help their child cope with the pressure, work smarter and actually enjoy their final years of school.

A 15-year-old boy is walking through a swirling fog on his way to school when a voice calls out, "Come here. We need to talk." Out of the mist emerges an old man with a white beard. He is a fantastic figure, as wizardly as Merlin, as wise as Socrates, as peaceful as Buddha. Whoever he is, the old man has appeared on that very day to change the boy's life. "You are old enough to learn about things," he says mysteriously. "And who is going to teach you but me?" The old man gives the boy four days of "soul training", a time of riddles, tricks, parables, and incredible twists.

Twelve-year-old David is transported back 200 years from his comfortable home in America to 1800's England, where he is pressed into service on the HMS Victory and must somehow survive the Battle of Trafalgar, the greatest naval battle of all time. This is the fictional story of a young boy, set in the historically accurate Battle of Trafalgar. While trying to survive, David learns some valuable lessons about duty, leadership, and friendship.

Everyone knows that boys are falling behind in education. Largely left out of the discussion are parents of boys, who are most aware that their bright, eager sons hit an invisible wall somewhere near fourth grade, after which they become disengaged, discouraged, and disaffected. There are dozens of books on underachieving boys, but most parents brave enough to lift one off the shelf are instantly intimidated by the footnotes, graphs, case studies, and academic-speak addressed almost entirely to educators.

Christian Child, Atheist Adult is the autobiographical narrative of a Southern Baptist deacon's son who discovered just how misled he had been during his formative years; ultimately making a transformation into one of Christianity's most staunch critics. Gregory Blount provides accounts of the social and familial tactics often used by many faith-based religions to indoctrinate and entrap members. The book also provides a broad consideration of the scientific, historical, and philosophical answers that led the author to develop his perspective.

Veda Vyasa is the revered sage who composed the epic Mahabharata, one of the longest and most profound epics in the world. This Amar Chitra Katha tells the inspiring story of Vyasa's life—from his divine birth to his work as a storyteller and philosopher. Known as the one who structured the Vedas, Vyasa's legacy goes beyond literature, influencing Hindu philosophy and guiding generations in their pursuit of wisdom. Through his tales and teachings, Vyasa’s profound insights reveal the timeless values of dharma (righteousness), karma (action), and devotion.

In this powerful narrative non-fiction debut, the lives of these three characters provide listeners with a vivid and sobering portrait of education in twenty-first-century America. Hope Against Hope works in the same tradition as Random Family and There Are No Children Here to capture the challenges of growing up and learning in a troubled world.