Vale Ann Margaret Sharp – 1942-2010

One of the best-known songs from Margaret Ann Rich’s pen was the 1991 Ricky van Shelton hit, “Life’s Little Ups and Downs.” Her husband, who passed away in 1995, also recorded her songs “Field of Yellow Daisies,” “A Sunday Kind of Woman” and “Nothing In the World.” Among the other artists who recorded songs by Margaret Ann are Tom Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and Bobby Blue Bland.

She was a founding member of the Memphis branch of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Services were scheduled for today (7/26) in Memphis.In other words, Philosophy for Children does not tell the child what to think: ultimately that is up to the child. What it does do is give children the intellectual, social and emotional tools that they need to think well, to think judiciously and reasonably and, by means of the classroom community of inquiry, fosters the care, commitment and courage to act on their thinking. Ann Margaret Sharp, 2004.It is 2010 and I’m in Sydney, just up the road from the University of New South Wales. Yesterday, we were told at the start of the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA) Conference that our ‘keynote presenter.

Ann Margaret Sharp, would not be joining us for her presentation on ‘Is there a spiritual dimension to Philosophy For Children‘, which was to focus on behaviours of communal philosophical inquiry as participants embody critical, creative and caring thinking.In 2004, I attended a Level 2 training course in Philosophy for Children. It was hosted at a monastery (interestingly enough!) – St Clements Retreat Centre located in Galong NSW. I was a student with about fifteen other teachers, attending lectures and workshops run by practioners like Phillip Cam (Associate Professor in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of NSW), Catherine Geraghty-Slavica (SOPHY), and there were sessions by a special overseas presenter – Ann Margaret Sharp.

She was the Associate Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children and a Professor of Education at Montclair State College. She was also the coauthor (with Matthew Lipman and Frederick S. Oscanyan) of Philosophy in the Classroom (Temple), Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, Kio and Gus, Elfie and many more in the Philosophy for Children series. She was almost childlike with her enthusiasm – eagerly unpacking concepts and debating with a cheerful laugh – it was a little difficult to connect this person as being the author of many of the books and manuals that led us to sign up in the first place.

She is considered one of the founders of the worldwide Philosophy for Children movement, an approach to philosophy teaching that relies on a self-correcting community of inquiry, rather than the authority of the teacher, to provoke and guide philosophic discussion. This is a major transfer of responsibility to the students, and is considered an innovation with implications for the teaching of philosophy, which is still providing resources and models for philosophy teaching across all ages (including tertiary – yesterday I attended a lecture run by Clinton Golding of the University of Melbourne, on the ‘expedition-educator’ model when engaging in philosophical discussions with students).