On 3/21/03 7:24 AM, "Michael Atherton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The problem with teaching "critical thinking" in the schools > is that it is not about helping students to think independently, > but more about helping them understand the importance of "correct > thinking." And, although Mr. Kushner seems to think that the schools > are molding students into corporate robots, the reality is much > different. As Ms. Nompelis points out, schools and the teachers in > them, are far more likely to have a liberal bias than a conservative one. I won't argue Ms. Nompelis' story about the school she attended, but I'd like to respectfully point out that it represents one case at one time, or a "snapshot" if you will. Just as correlation does not mean causation, a snapshot does not make a trend. When Dukakis ran in 1988, I was attending Minneapolis North High School. We never talked about who we should tell our parents to support for president. We did talk about the importance of voting and being engaged in the political process. I remember getting my state senator, Larry Pogemiller, to visit my civics class to talk to us about how state government works. I also felt quite prepared for college two years later when I graduated and went on to the U of MN as my lowly MPS education helped me score a 30 on my ACT and a 1320 on my SATs, both among the top percentiles in the nation. And I had a number of classmates who were right up there with me, if not higher. There's my snapshot for you. Mark Snyder Windom Park TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
