ABSTRACT
Literacy is a very strange achievement. It involves the externalizing of a natural bodily activity and its preservation in a peculiar coded form that allows people then to reexamine that past activity. This chapter considers the achievement of this peculiarity to be foundational to all other educational achievements. It describes to teach children to express their thoughts in writing and then reflect on their, and on others', past thoughts. Consciousness of language use—what is sometimes called, rather ponderously, "metalinguistic awareness"—is clearly important for children's ability to function adequately in a literate environment. Matthew Lipman initiated the Philosophy for Children program in the United States. Thinking, for Lipman, involves learning and exercising particular skills. He lists 30 of these, which he engages children in learning. A Socratic structure offers the children the opportunity to speak in the classroom without the burden of answering a teacher-question.
