Learning to Believe or Think?
The other night I had a very insightful discussion with two gentlemen in the community. One of these men shared a quote with me that he had heard from Ralph Nader. One day when young Ralph came home from school his father asked Ralph whether that day at school he had learned to believe or to think.
It struck me as interesting that this deeply religious man (and a father of a high school aged daughter) felt that a teacher had the responsibility to teach students how to think, not just to believe.
Some members of religious communities express the opinion that teachers should not encourage students to critically examine their lives, the world around them, or what other people in their lives have told them to be true. The assumption here is that critical analysis, inspired by a secular education, may diminish one’s faith.
The counter point to this is that if what we have been told to be true is really rooted in truth, then critical analysis will actually deepen our faith and understanding.
In the classroom I often through out a thought or “fact” that I know is not true to see what students are listening to what I am saying, questioning it, and thinking about it deeply. If we as teachers properly train students to think, our students will not even take our words as truth without thinking about them first with a thoughtful mind.
This is not easy. Some teachers do not particularly like to be personally challenged. They do not want their classrooms disrupted with students talking back. They want order (quite, and compliance). This means that we as teachers must not only teach students how to think, but also how to be respectful in questioning the world and people around them.
What do you think? How important is critical thinking in the learning process? Are their cautions we should have when subjecting the world to critical analysis? How do we establish a framework for thoughtful examination of what we learn at school, at home, and beyond?