In the past 50y, I find that our education systems* have increasingly moved away from teaching students how to think critically and toward learning lots of useful facts and processes. Hugely detrimental!
Obviously I'm as guilty as the next person of mdoing this (I'm sure!), but I was very lucky to do my undergrad at MIT in the 90s, where critical thinking, gathering evidence, seeking alternative explanations for things, etc., was just part of the environment. I didn't know that I was learning to think critically, but I did. It's probably the most important thing I got from MIT.
* in the 3 countries I've lived in: Canada, US, UK
Thank you for reading and share your thoughts. I think it's important to note your emphasis on environment. We are social beings and we simply cannot ignore the influence of the larger environments in which we find ourselves. Thus it is not enough to merely teach critical thinking, as a set of abstract skills. We also need to create environments in which critical thinking is encouraged and nurtured. Environments that squelch free expression and vigorous debate and dialogue not only undermine human autonomy, they also undermine critical thinking abilities, I think.
Really good article! Thank you.
In the past 50y, I find that our education systems* have increasingly moved away from teaching students how to think critically and toward learning lots of useful facts and processes. Hugely detrimental!
Obviously I'm as guilty as the next person of mdoing this (I'm sure!), but I was very lucky to do my undergrad at MIT in the 90s, where critical thinking, gathering evidence, seeking alternative explanations for things, etc., was just part of the environment. I didn't know that I was learning to think critically, but I did. It's probably the most important thing I got from MIT.
* in the 3 countries I've lived in: Canada, US, UK
Thank you for reading and share your thoughts. I think it's important to note your emphasis on environment. We are social beings and we simply cannot ignore the influence of the larger environments in which we find ourselves. Thus it is not enough to merely teach critical thinking, as a set of abstract skills. We also need to create environments in which critical thinking is encouraged and nurtured. Environments that squelch free expression and vigorous debate and dialogue not only undermine human autonomy, they also undermine critical thinking abilities, I think.
Very much agreed!