Teaching Critical Thinking

It appears that most people have not been taught basic skills in thinking. They don't understand what constitutes "evidence" or "proof"; most have little idea as to what "logical errors" are, or the difference between "faith" and "knowledge". They are taught by television and radio ads to confuse feelings with thought. Many do not have any real idea as to how one goes about solving problems.

As a result, many grow into adults who are easily manipulated and led, who act on their impulses and feelings without thought, who are scarcely above the level of primitive primates in their thinking. Yet they are expected to deal with a very complex political and economic world. They are expected to know how to vote and on what to base their opinions, other than how they have been told to feel by others.

What if we taught a course in critical thinking in the schools? We could give them the tools to distinguish argument from demagoguery. We could teach them how to know when they are being sold snake oil or eternal youth pills and how to evaluate the evidence for a particular idea or set of ideas. They would learn the basics of the scientific method and how to apply those techniques to everyday problems.

We certainly have no hesitation in teaching children religious thinking, and expect them to accept as proof things they are told and for which there is no evidence. Why should we not teach them how to think critically? Critical thinking itself is not anti-religious, and it is not a "theory". It is a set of tools, like algebra, that have wide applications. Learning to question what we are told, how to look for the errors in arguments, learning how causality works and does not work, all these are important skills. Without them people are little wiser than herds, which may well be what the corporate world wants them to be.

Uncle Charley Supports An Emperor

"I can't tell you how tired I am of listenin' to all them politicians lyin' and puttin' a spin on the truth," Charley said, handing me another beer.

"That's what's going on, though," I said. "I don't understand why they keep these transparent lies going when it's simple to tell the truth".

"Simple for you," Charley laughed. "You don't need any voter support."

"I think they lose more support than they keep when they hand out another line of politically correct baloney," I said. "That beer is good, Charley. Where'd you get it?"

"It's made locally at that little German restaurant up Sooner Road almost to Moore. No hops, hardly. And what would you do different?"

"Differently from what?", I said.

"Fer instance," Charley said with a laugh, "If you had been in Clinton's place when he got caught foolin' around with that young woman, what would you have said instead of 'I did not have sex with that woman'?"

I thought for a minute. "OK, how about this: 'Yep, I stepped out of the bounds of my marriage, and now I have a real problem, a personal one. How is it your business if I'm not faithful to my wife? The Chief Executive of this country is not required to make his private life public, as long as that doesn't affect his ability to do his job. Next question?'"

Charley laughed. "I like it, Harry. Course you're not married to Hillary".

"That's for sure," I said.

"What if you'da been Nixon when Watergate came crashin' down around his ears?"

"I don't believe I would have gotten into that situation in the first place. It's a lot easier to tell the truth when you're staying honest. But I wouldn't have said 'I am not a crook'. I might have said something like 'I did not behave ethically when I obtained information illegally. I stepped over the line. I will accept whatever consequences follow, but until my responsibilities change I will continue to do my job and try to be more of an honest man and less of a politician. Next question?"

"That's good, but not too practical. I get your point. People got a right to know that you're honest, and they got a right to know the things that you do or don't do as part of your job. But you don't think they got a right to know squat about your private life. Is that about it?"

"I think so," I said. "Some things you can't talk about publicly. No business or corporation can survive with all their plans open and public. But the United States is a business, a big one.
And the people in charge need to stand up and be truthful about what they are doing and what they have done as far as their job is concerned. I don't care if the President of the United States has sexual relationships with sheep, and it's none of my business, unless somehow it affects how he does his job."

"I agree. I think them reporters will tell anything to anybody if it helps 'em keep their jobs. Like them paparazzi sneaking around tryin' to take pictures of naked celebrities. It's just low class panderin' to the lowest level of curiosity." Charley took a drink from his beer.

"I think it would be interesting to see how the American people would react to a President who told the truth and who demanded that his personal boundaries be respected."

"I think people would love it," Charley said, finishing his beer. "I think they might make you Emperor if you did that."

"I'm willing to be elected by acclamation," I laughed. "Let's see if someone wants an honest man."

Uncle Charley Pays Off The National Debt

I knocked on Uncle Charley's door. When he came to the door, I handed him the sack of peaches Elaine had picked up at the Farmer's Market that morning.

"Howdy, and thanks!", he said, looking into the bag. "Them peaches look real good. Don't know whether to eat 'em in a bowl with cream or make a pie with 'em. Come on in."

I followed him into his small and neat living room and sat down while he took the peaches into the kitchen.

"Tell Elaine I said 'thanks'," he said as he put them down on the kitchen table. "I appreciate her pickin' 'em up at the Market. Saves me a trip".

"Be glad to, Charley," I answered, looking at the pile of papers scattered over the desk. "What you working on?"

"Been thinking about that national debt thingie," he answered. "Them politicians keep saying we got to spend more money because we're in debt, and they got some economists who say we can pay it off. The same economists who recommended we get in debt in the first place."

"Doesn't sound reasonable, does it?"

"Nope. I got some ideas that would work, but they'd be real unpopular."

"I don't think anything we do that solves this mess is going to be popular," I said.

"Right. That's why they're not gonna solve it. They need the popular votes more than they need us to be solvent. Can't spend our way out of debt, nobody can. We gotta raise more money and spend less, and that's the long and the short of it."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Well, we can raise a lot of money if we can get the people who aren't paying income taxes to pay what they owe. You got any idea how many people don't pay taxes?"

"A lot," I said. "Lots of people work for cash only, most of them working people, not many of them well-to-do. But there are a lot of them. And a lot of illegal immigrants who do work that we can't get Americans to do at the price, and we still have to pay for their medical expenses and for putting their kids through school."

"That' s right," Charley said. "So getting them to help pay for the system that helps them is important for us.That's one part of my plan. Here's some more ideas: We let anybody who wants to come here to work do so, but they have to register and they have to pay income taxes. We legalize drugs, subsidize them and drive the cartels out of business, and un-employ all the young people who are living on the drug profits so they'll have to find work. We add a small national sales tax on everything but food, medicine and rent. We stop federal subsidies for everthing that can be put off for a couple of years, because right now we can't afford long-term investments. We switch to socialized medicine so that medical bills can't bankrupt us."

"A lot of people, probably most of us, won't have nearly as much money as we are used to now. There'll be a lot of unhappiness, anger, maybe revolts."

"Yep," Charley said. "It's gonna be bad. But if we don't accept bad times now, we're gonna have to accept terrible times later, so terrible that we might not ever recover. Like taking bitter medicine. I got more ideas, but they ain't any more optimistic."

"Geez, Charley. That's about as bleak a picture as you can paint."

"That's right, Harry. Here, eat a peach to take out the bad taste."

"Gonna take a lot of peaches."

"You got that right," he said cheerfully.