Jackie Fellows <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Hi Bill
What you say is true that people do need to ecourage critical thinking.
However, IMO, we start to late in teaching the fundamentals of critical
thinking. From grades 1-2, children are rewarded for being passive, sponges
soaking up information. This is needed I grant you, but during that oh so
important time in human development, the children are also internalizing the
values they wil base their opinions, etc. on. Often these values are
unquestioningly accepted simply because parents, teachers, etc. say it is
so. Then they hit college and the first day the prof comes in and wants them
to do critical thinking. What in heavens name do we expect--Voila, instant
critical thinker?? I am not blaming teachers in the elementary and secondary
schools. They have to teach them an information base to start from as well
as be expected to teach a whole lot more. I just wonder if there isn't
another way that we can encourage that in the younger grades. And I don't
have any answers. I think of some of the programs we have for trying to
instill moral values in the elementary schools and I wonder what information
they receive. This might be a good opportunity to start to encourage
critical thinking, if that is not being done.
For example, does the D.A.R.E. program only present the "evilness" of drugs
without the scare tactics and do they really explain the lure of drug use??
Do they make a blanket generalization of drugs? Do they gloss over the
effects of alcohol? Do we as a society really set the stage for critical
rational thinking?? We have laws that put marijuana distributors in jail for
longer terms without possiblilty of parole that we do murderers in some
states. We infringe on spousal rights of not testifying in drug cases
through coercion. And, then we wonder why children treat killing so
lightly. And we wonder why they learn that bullying can get the job done.
Sorry to ramble on so.
jackief
William J. Foristal wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
>
> HI Jackie,
>
> I think society needs to learn from our mistakes of the past. For
> example, Lt. William Calley was looked at as a hero by many people after
> the My Lai massacre. Why? Because the people he murdered were Vietnamese
> and people found it easier to consider all Vietnamese as a likely enemy
> even though we were supposedly over there to help the South Vietnamese.
> And the real hero, the guy in the helicopter who stopped the killings was
> investigated as a traitor. Now, at long last, he's being given the
> recognition as a hero that he deserves. We need to encourage everyone to
> become more skilled at critical thinking and not to judge actions based
> on who is involved on the various sides of that action.
>
> Bill
>
> On Tue, 28 Apr 1998 19:44:40 -0500 Jackie Fellows <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> writes:
> >--
In the sociology room the children learn
that even dreams are colored by your perspective
I toss and turn all night. Theresa Burns, "The Sociology Room"
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