Question

Some people argue that schools ought to teach students how to think critically about the world around them rather than simply pass along important skills and knowledge and learn for the high stakes test. How important is critical thinking? How well do you feel that U.S. schools encourage critical thinking? Would an increase in critical thinking skills be the cure for the school dropout epidemic throughout the country?

Answer 1

Yes, I feel it is very important for schools to teach children about the world around them and how it works. Unlike the regular education, which shows the historical events, about plants or animals, a major chunk should be given to educate them about the world. They should tell them about economy, share market, foriegn policies, about taxes, about rules of the country, about sex, about health, about first aid. I feel comparing to the developing countries, US has education which gives importance to critical thinking in schools. If such an education is brought in all the schools, I feel, that the quality of education would go up but the school drop out statistics may take a period of time to show some positive results.