Pint-Size Philosophers

In the fall of 2009, Detlefsen taught an undergraduate course at Penn about the social-political context of education. The dialogue that semester crystallized for her the connection that students tend to make between philosophy and social justice, but she still felt the course lacked something. “We got into great conversations,” she says, “but I also thought their experience of the theory would’ve been greatly enhanced had there been some sort of practical component to it.” She began dreaming up a philosophy of education Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course through Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships.