- A Day in the Life of a Parent of A Virtual Charter School! - March 19, 2013
- {Parent's Corner} Preconceived Notions about Virtual Education - January 14, 2013
- When a Child Gets Behind - Part 2 - October 23, 2012
- The Flip Side of Virtual Schools: When a Child Gets Behind - Part 1 - October 8, 2012
- Critical Thinking in Kids - September 25, 2012
- {Parent's Corner} The Frustration of Teens & School - September 19, 2012
- What Would Happen? - August 27, 2012
- Virtual Schools: An Alternative Choice for Parents - August 13, 2012
- Getting your Child Ready for School-It's More than New Clothes and Supplies - August 6, 2012
- Opinion: So 9 Year Olds Can Beat Up Toddlers? - August 5, 2012
For those that may have read my blog, particularly a post on stagnation in our schools, you might gather that I highly support the teaching of critical thinking skills. It came as a shock, though, to find out that at least in Texas, critical thinking is looked down upon. You can actually read their stand on it on the party platform here. To quote the party platform :
"Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."
If this is the stance of the members of the GOP, then somehow I'm not surprised that our education isn't working.
I do the best that I can to show my kids both sides of the argument. I try to give them my reasons for making the decisions I do. There are times, though, that I don't. I simply state “because I said so” and they know the argument is over. When I do, though, they are able to ask questions. I encourage questions, it's the best way for kids to learn.
The key to critical thinking is knowing what the question truly is. By asking the initial question, you can break the problem down into manageable pieces. Knowing the pieces, you can find the answers to the questions that follow. In the end, putting together a reasonably objective answer or solution to a problem.
I want my children to be able to follow the process on their own. Their approach is not going to be the same as mine. If my “justifying” myself to my children in their attempt to understand, then I am generally willing to help. In the end, my kids are better students because they're not afraid to actually ask that first question. They're confident enough to know that they can, for the most part, find the answers on their own. Now what do you do to encourage critical thinking in your kids?
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“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed