Children in Chaos explores the implementation of Philosophy for Children in four Washington, D.C. public schools between 1987 and 1989. It provides commentary and arguments by district superintendent Thomas Harper, Philosophy for Children creator Matthew Lipman (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...), and the editor, the philosopher and founder of Philosophy Born of Struggle (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...), Leonard Harris, as well as selections of in-class diaries from teachers using the Philosophy for Children program. As Harris explains, "These schools are located in historically strong middle and lower middle class African American communities facing the relative new growth of social fragmentation, drug use, and adolescent crime" (p. v). Lipman argues that Philosophy for Children is uniquely relevant to the educational needs of this populations, because "children who come from disadvantaged, underprivileged families need educational programs that offer them cognitive skills that can emerge out of their already impressive linguistic competencies, that help them think for themselves and provide them with a sense of belonging, a sense of community" (p. xxv), and because the community of philosophical inquiry "seeks instead to establish an atmosphere of mutual respect, intellectual openness, freedom to question and criticize, and courage to confront whatever enigmas life has to offer" (p. xvi). Harris argues "that the teaching of critical thinking should be situated within the context of a redefined educational mission suited to both the resistance tradition of African American culture and the pariah of postmodern cultural chaos" (p. vii).