Nick Moore
Mrs. Waldenberger
HUM 101
10 Oct. 2010
Reasoning Like A Child
1. Should reasoning skills be taught in primary school? Why or why not?
The answer to this prompt is an emphatic “YES”! My affirmation of this question does have one condition to it. The Government shouldn’t be the one to teach children to think critically. The reason for this is because the Government always has an agenda. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Republican or Democrat in office, both would love to influence the new generation of thinkers and in particular, how and what they think about. Any parent in their right mind would rather have a larger impact in their child’s thinking than an unfeeling juggernaut seeking to create a majority of C plus thinking level kids. I have noticed that most people in my Humanities 101 class have also expressed that they agree with this. I believe the reason for this is that if a child learns something young, they will never forget it and it will have a heavy impact in their lives. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper will be to explore why parents should be the ones to teach their children to think critically and why.
The main motivation for parents to teach their children how to think correctly is that if they don’t, it’s most likely that someone else will and their intentions won’t be to nurture them and protect them. The Hitler Youth is a perfect example of this and should be enough to scare the pants off any parent who cares about their child’s thinking influences. Even adults who don’t critically think could end up like Guy Montag, a poor sole under the tyrranical tutelage of a corrupt fire chief . (Fahrenheit 451). In relation to children though, the tyrant’s intentions will most likely be to manipulate the child into and unthinking, unquestioning robot. According to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, kids who have dinner with their parents frequently are less likely to develop mental disease, smoke, drink, and become involved in substance abuse. My point in bringing this up is that kids who honestly participate with their parents are likely to listen to them and question all other sources that are suspect of corruption and if they are truly smart, they’ll respectfully question what they are certain is right. In turn, this will be an asset to the children because it will protect them but it must essentially begin with the parent’s teaching. I think that no one in their right mind would willingly deny their child the ability to think critically and I come to this conclusion because of a lack of what I found through internet research.
Using Google, I typed in “arguments against teaching critical thinking” and looked at the first five pages and found nothing but books, philosophers, privately funded websites, and organizations encouraging the teaching of critical thinking to not only children but all ages. I searched a few other differently worded combinations of my initial search and found nothing. I think that this speaks to the ludicrous position of arguing against teaching critical thinking. But just so that I am not judged as lazy, I’ll provide my main reason for not teaching critical thinking to children. It’s not easy! My parents always taught me to question authority because all authority on Earth is fallible. The lessons I learned from this were sometimes easy and even fun at times but there was also a dark side to my parents teaching me to do this. They didn’t always enjoy the teaching process. Sometimes I would question other’s authority in ways that got me in what my dad would call “Deep Wahooka”. Then they’d have to bail me out and teach me that this type of questioning requires tact. My point is that teaching a child to critically think is extremely hard and time intensive. This is my only reasonable argument against doing it. The advantages of teaching a child to reason properly is far greater than the difficulties that exist in the process.
In conclusion, critical thinking is arguably the most important thing that can ever be taught to a child. Here is the lynch pin though. Parents must be the ones to teach their children to think about life and its meaning, not the government. If for no other reason, it should be that parents ought to take pure joy in bringing their children up themselves and in what image they find best. Kids who are in Primary School aren’t immune to this and could benefit immensely from being taught how to reason effectively. So parents, you ought to be teaching children how to think correctly and wisely before they ever get to primary school! How’s that for critical thinking?
