[Pookie]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

I am so happy to teach in California, our core standard for our history programs is critical and analytical thinking. In fact, in third grade that is ALL we teach in social studies, the methodology of the study of history. Permeating all the standards in every year following are critical thinking strategies, exercises and writing assignments challenging students to create independent interpretations and inferences from of the historical data we give them, and in our in-class discussions, from middle school through their senior seminar classes to graduate high school we focus on listening to our students and helping them form their own intelligent conclusions. My job is not to brainwash kids into believing whatever the text book teaches, but rather to help mentor them to be able to more intelligently and substantively explain and understand their own personal beliefs. Everyday in the classroom, I am always blown away at the sincerity of youth. Kids think big, society just tries it damned to shut that down through adulthood by suffocating all outlets of individual thinking and expression. In high school we provide a lot of outlets, but in real life after school our society is geared towards taking these away or devaluing their significance. Simply put, it rarely pays the bills to think critically, often the opposite.

Critical thinking was certainly never taught when I was at school and with this government there is more of a move towards facts (with a bigger emphasis on BRITISH history) and even less critical thinking.