Critical Thinking is Nothing Without Knowledge

[pipedreams]

Interesting!

"Among high school students, I’ve seen puzzled looks in response to the mention of Adolf Hitler, segregation, Thomas Jefferson, the Cold War, Aristotle and the Bill of Rights—among other things.

How could I have asked my students, however, to think critically about the Cold War, without knowing that Russia was once part of the Soviet Union? Should we prioritize business and technical writing for students who don’t even know who Martin Luther King Jr. is? How could any college student meaningfully support a cause like socialism if she arguably doesn’t even know what it entails?"

 

https://areomagazine.com/2020/01/02/critical-thinking-is-nothing-without-knowledge/#comments

[janice6]

2 hours ago, pipedreams said:

Interesting!

"Among high school students, I’ve seen puzzled looks in response to the mention of Adolf Hitler, segregation, Thomas Jefferson, the Cold War, Aristotle and the Bill of Rights—among other things.

How could I have asked my students, however, to think critically about the Cold War, without knowing that Russia was once part of the Soviet Union? Should we prioritize business and technical writing for students who don’t even know who Martin Luther King Jr. is? How could any college student meaningfully support a cause like socialism if she arguably doesn’t even know what it entails?"

 

https://areomagazine.com/2020/01/02/critical-thinking-is-nothing-without-knowledge/#comments

That's the problem today.

Students are taught what to think, not how to think.

When you are taught what to think, very little has to do with historical justification and logical objective reasoning behind the events. 

You don't care that the individual can't argue the relevant points of the subject, just that he or she agrees with what you told them to think and/or vote.

When the individual is taught how to think, you risk the result that they may not agree with you, therefore you don't present the issues from an objective viewpoint.

When you deny or lose history, you deny or lose the ability to argue the merits of the subject. The goal of tyranny is ignorance.

Every tyrannical group whose goal is to rule over the lives of others, have tried to erase any historical arguments so you will believe and know only what they want you to believe/know.

The worst enemy of those driven to rule over you, is information.   Objective information is the sword of freedom!

[BamaBud]

When I taught History at the University, i always tested my incoming freshmen class for general knowledge. I used some questions from the basic citizenship test.

The average score was between 30-40%. It gradually got worse through the years. Sad.