I'm afraid, I've reversed the order of these quotes from you, I think it make more sense to answer them in this order:
Maybe kids as young as seven should just be left to be a bit irrational? Maybe this is the best way to discover the world for oneself at that age? Maybe this is a necessary part of the process of eventually working out for oneself what is rational and what is not?
Maybe kids as young as seven should just be left to be a bit illiterate? Maybe this is the best way to discover grammar and spelling for oneself at that age? Maybe this is a necessary part of the process of eventually working out for oneself what is spelt correctly and what is not?
I don't believe that critical thinking, and rationality, is different to other skills. It can be taught, it should be taught and the younger you start teaching it the better.
Again it's the intentional, explicit and purposeful advocacy of any well defined mindset targetted specifically at kids that I find uncomfortable.
From the article in the OP:
quote:
Stein said the camp was not only for the offspring of atheists or "irreligious" parents. "It is a secular alternative open to children of parents of all faiths and none," she said.
"It is not about changing what they think, but the way that they think. There is very little that attacks religion; we are not a rival to religious camps."
I think the newspaper branding of this as "atheist camp", the intention is to teach secular values, and skills of critical thinking and intelligently reaching your own conclusion. Maybe that's a "well defined mindset", but I don't see how it can be credibly described as any worse than teaching kids that "stealing is bad" or "2+2=4".
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