I think what we really need is a complete overhaul of the educational system. Yes, I know that this would be hard, but I really think we need to move away from an information based education to a thinking based education. It's getting easier and easier to access facts. With smart phones and tiny laptops becoming ubiquitous, and with sites like wikipedia and others, vast amounts of info are seconds to minutes away. We already know standardized tests really don't mean that much in terms of intelligence, so why don't we move away from that kind of teaching already? I think from a very young age, we can start teaching kids critical thinking by having them figure things out for themselves instead of just thrusting information into their heads.
All I can see are eyes glazing over as the teacher presents Platonic Forms.
There are many ways to teach kids how to think critically besides presenting them with formal theory. I think the best way is to get them to start thinking critically by having them come up with ideas, try to answer them and then defend their answers. Then later, we can formalize it with the particular vocabulary used in a Logic Class, or whatever. In my ideal world, it would be like teaching them a language. Kids learn to use language even before we ever tell them exactly what a noun or a verb or a gerund is, and they do it by trying it out for themselves.
I dunno, I'm no expert on teaching or learning, but in my ideal world that how it would be.
Edited by Stagamancer, : copied a quote twice.
We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely
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