Re: “Critical thinking can’t exist without the facts,” April 28.
The B.C. education minister is right. Critical thinking should be taught in schools.
Critical thinking is a method applied to facts. If is not applied, the facts can form baseless and unchallenged beliefs — and that is not what education is about.
Teaching facts without exploring and questioning them is called indoctrination. Facts believed without question might even be dangerous to society.
Young children (before the age of about seven) do not have the capacity for critical thinking or logic, and generally believe what they are told by their parents. As we grow older, we use critical thinking to question authority and learn to question the facts. Santa Claus becomes a fairy tale.
Most adults naturally apply critical thinking to facts presented by authorities. We verify or reject them to establish the truth for ourselves.
If we apply critical thinking to columnist Lawrie McFarlane’s example of the “fact” that it is false that organic vegetables are healthier, we find that this can be challenged if we believe that non-organic vegetables contain harmful pesticide residues. Questioning the “facts” is what critical thinking is all about.
Educators who disseminate facts and expect students to accept and repeat them are only doing half a job. Educators who encourage students to apply critical thinking to those facts are the real teachers.
Critical-thinking skills are a necessary part of becoming a responsible adult, and I’m happy that our education minister sees it that way.
John Pope
Retired teacher and librarian
Victoria
