10 Socratic Dialogue Prompts for High School
PDF coming soon — read the prompts below.
-
AI in Academic Work
A student turns in a paper written almost entirely by an AI and edited lightly. They learned the topic well enough to evaluate the AI’s output. Should they get full credit? What exactly did they demonstrate, and what did they not?
-
Social Media and the Self
Most adults your age curate a version of themselves online that is not quite the full story. Is that dishonest? Is it different from what people have always done in letters, yearbooks, or job interviews? Where would you draw the line?
-
College and Career Pressure
A high-school student picks their classes, extracurriculars, and even their volunteer work to optimize for a college application. By the time they get to college, much of what they cared about has been shaped by an admissions rubric. How much of who they are is actually theirs?
-
Civic Discourse
Two citizens disagree about an important policy. Both are smart, both read the news, both have PhDs. They cannot convince each other. Is one of them right, or is ‘right’ the wrong question? What would it take to resolve this in a democracy that does not require consensus?
-
Free Speech on Campus
A speaker is invited to a college to present a view that many students find harmful. Should the invitation be canceled? What principles should the college apply, and what does the answer reveal about what the college thinks its job is?
-
AI and Authorship
A novelist publishes a book they wrote with substantial AI assistance and does not disclose it. The book is original, well-crafted, and widely admired. Did they do anything wrong? What would change if they had disclosed it?
-
Moral Tradeoffs
A company makes a product that genuinely improves millions of lives but is produced in a factory with documented worker abuses. Buying the product supports the improvement and the abuse at the same time. How should a consumer think about that choice?
-
Scientific Consensus and Dissent
A scientific consensus exists on a topic — climate, vaccines, nutrition. One credentialed scientist publicly dissents. How should a non-expert decide what to believe? What duty does the media have in covering the dissent?
-
Identity and Freedom
A person decides that a core part of their identity — religious, political, or cultural — was something they absorbed from family and would have rejected if raised differently. How much of that identity is genuinely theirs, and how much is inherited? Is there a meaningful difference?
-
Climate and Individual Action
An individual decides not to take action on climate change because the action of one person has no measurable effect on the outcome. Is that reasoning correct? Is it a defense, an excuse, or a refusal to engage with the problem? What would a serious response to climate change actually look like at the individual level?