Missed the edit window.
You said you wanted to plant seeds and hopefully see kids get up out of the ghetto. I’m not part of the, erm, ‘ghetto’ (?) here, and I’m not part of the black community, but I am part of the northeast Hispanic community (this white teacher has an honorary title :o) and no kid is going to leave the belloz by memorizing some facts about Cesar Chavez or Father Hidalgo.
I’m just going to suspect that rote memorization has very little to do with self-esteem…in *any *group.
I want them to know that such empires existed. I wanted them to remember them when called upon to. The little poems work perfectly. Again, it’s not hard. It worked for me. I wasn’t being told about Black History outside of slavery stuff in school. Someone took the time to tell me about it. I am happy that I have committed those lessons to memory because I can pull on them now to teach others (like my kids). I have no idea why you think I’m trying to get them out of the ghetto. I love the ghetto and live here. I do hope that my poetry group will teach them things that will give the some success and keep them out of trouble because the same kind of thing worked for me.
And yes, the poetry and the philosophy are two different things. I honest to god thought that was crystal clear in the OP? I am asking if I should allow someone who has an understanding of philosophy as it is taught in a University to teach that to a bunch of kids that happen to be in my poetry group. I thought there was some question about whether kids can learn philosophy in the way he wants to try to teach them. I am hearing that the answer is yes. I am happy that Dopers think so, because I think it would be cool and instrumental for them if they can grasp it.
Children should be taught in some manner the spirit of questioning and examination in some philosophy. In fact, a lot of children probably have some of that spirit and it gets beaten out of them by teaching which professes certain truths (even more so in some religious education).
I think any way to teach the spirit of examination and wonder, and an openness to ambiguities would be great and make kids perhaps a bit less mean, neurotic and depressed.
Plus some teaching of ethics in a manner beyond “follow the rules” would be helpful.
I appreciate all of the answers. I am going to let him try to teach some philosophical concepts to the kids and then I will try to work some of those lessons into th poetry. I figure it might be really good for the kids, and it won’t hurt.
I admit, I remain unconvinced that younger children really have brains developed to grasp the true heart of philosophical thinking. I mean, in terms of really being capable of abstract thinking. I have read that some psychologists don’t really think it is possible.
(bolding mine)
Well…that depends on what that way is. Does he have any experience teaching mixed age groups of children? Does he have kids of his own? If so, then he probably knows what he’s getting into and what sort of techniques are likely to be most effective. If he’s planning on them sitting at desks and taking notes while he lectures, like he does for his college classes, things might not go so well! 
And you’re right. The 6 year olds are juuuuust starting to grasp abstract thinking. So if he’s too abstract in his teaching (see my reply above) then they won’t get it. But that’s okay! They don’t need to get it yet. They need to be introduced to it, in the most concrete terms possible, and then maybe work their way to as abstract as they can get (which is a little further than you think), and then be told, “We have a phrase for what this means…want to hear it? It’s “Categorical Imperative”. Nah, you don’t need to remember it, just remember what we already talked about. But when you get to college, you’ll find out you already know this stuff!”
I give to you a brilliant existentialist piece written by a six-year old. I hasten to add that this splendid little confection further bolsters my notion that poetry is the best way to develop the philosophical faculties of young children.
Nzinga, young children are most certainly capable of philosophical thought. I’ve seen a documentary on a program called Socrates for six year-olds that introduced philosophy to underachieving and underprivileged groups with good success.
Looks like it’s available on Youtube. Here’s a clip showing some young children discussing the problem of identity. Warning: ear-piercing sound quality.
I cannot look at that video here at work. I will watch it as soon as I get home.
I think there may be an age at which it’s too early to start children learning the who ferschlugginer history of philosophy, but once the kid can speak, then they can benefit from being asked to contemplate the world around them. There are a lot of worse things than getting practice early on in thinking about things.
If I were trying to introduce a child to philosophy, I’d use This Book, which was a nice source of things to ponder for me as an adult, and yet much of it could be adapted to childish contemplation.
As for a connection to poetry, it’s not unusual for a poem to present an enigma that a child could practice contemplating. Consider Ogden Nash.