Should principles of critical thinking and ethics be taught in U.S. high schools

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   JimTxMillerposted 12 years ago

   Should principles of critical thinking and ethics be taught in U.S. high schools?

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   annartposted 12 years ago

   I would say yes, even though I know very little about US schools.  It's something we teach here in Britain, under the names of Citizenship and Study Skills.  Children love discussing all subjects, especially those which impact on them and their lives.  Giving guidance about how to go about it, then allowing monitored discussion and research, gives them experience of realising that others have valid opinions, why they might have different opinions and being able to put forward their own opinions in a measured, inoffensive way. 
   So many problems are caused by misunderstandings and bigotry that we all need to TALK, TALK, TALK and guide our children through acceptable behaviour and more tolerance, as well as how to go about searching for and analysing information, then knowing how to use that information.

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      JimTxMillerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks so much, Ann, for offering your insight into schools in England! Very few, I dare say, U.S. schools include critical thinking, deductive reasoning or ethics in the curriculum.

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   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   The core principles should be introduced in kindergarten!
   
   Corporate Party has supported public education only to the degree that it helps to create obedient, unthinking workers. Just enough to do the job well, but not enough to become an entrepreneur and to create a competitive company.
   
   I'd like to see so much more taught early on. Kids can pick up stuff so quickly. Teach foreign language at age 4 and 5. Teach the ideas of calculus at age 6 and 7. They're so simple. Some may never take calculus or even advanced algebra and trig, but they will have an appreciation for what Newton and Goethe created.
   
   Every child has genius in them. Jaime Escalante proved that. We need far more like him.
   
   And I think we need to make the school "year" far less structured. Not every student travels at the pace as the teacher's curriculum. Maximize progress by demanding not a "C" or a "B," but mastery at every step. Let students go at their own pace, but also challenge them -- entice them.
   
   By High School, students should be doing tensor analysis and partial derivatives in math, or advanced color theory in art. They should be conversationally fluent in at least one other language at the start of High School. After 3 years of High School Spanish, in the 3rd highest scholastically rated school district in the country (1968, Montgomery County, MD), my Spanish was atrocious and I was making "A's!" And my Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry teacher couldn't answer simple questions about the application of things like quadratic equations. Duh!
   
   That's why I'm working on starting an educational foundation here in the Philippines. Perfect the techniques and then export it to other countries. Yes, even to America, if the government hasn't become too corrupt. Already it's a felony to protest what the government is doing (HR 347). And congressmen are voting on bills they never read! Too many in government don't have critical thinking under their belt... either that or they are corrupt -- perhaps working for the Corporate Party rather than the citizens.

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      JimTxMillerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate your thoughts and input. Thanks!

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   lupineposted 11 years ago

   Yes, critical thinking and ethics should be taught in high school or as ealy as elementary grades. They are taught at college level, usually as electives, but that may be too late for some, and not all attend college.

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