As children we learn that fire is hot when we touch the stove, and that there is a voice we have to say no to everything, even if we want it. In adolescence we’ve learned how to use that voice and turn our thoughts into voiced opinions. At this point the path typically diverges and you either become a thinker or a part of the taught. The difference between a thinker and the taught is subtle, and many people believe they are thinkers when in reality they are the taught. The thinkers and the taught receive the same instruction and learn the same things, but the thinker goes further and applies his/her learned information to his/her previous knowledge, becoming what we call a Critical Thinker. The taught are not like the thinker in that they believe
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Whether it be public or private, they are given an education, that is, an education in the eyes of the state. What is taught in schools is dictated both at a national and a state level, and, thanks to common core education, this has not only taken away the teacher’s ability and privilege to teach, but also restricted students to basic information that is both lackluster and uninspiring. To John Henry Newman, a cardinal in the Catholic Church, knowledge is something that “sees more than the senses convey, [something] which reasons upon what it sees … and invests it with an idea,” but in schools in America there is no seeing more or investing in ideas, it’s just taking notes, testing, and moving onto the next subject (27). Teachers are required by common core education laws to stick to a strict schedule and rarely, if ever, venture off script. National Testing is all everyone seems to care about, and how America stands up against the other countries. People seem to ignore the fact that America is actually the worst of the first world countries in primary education. They question why it’s so hard to get a job and when the facts are staring them in the face. America wants higher education but simply can’t deliver it when they don’t teach critical thinking in the
Whether it be public or private, they are given an education, that is, an education in the eyes of the state. What is taught in schools is dictated both at a national and a state level, and, thanks to common core education, this has not only taken away the teacher’s ability and privilege to teach, but also restricted students to basic information that is both lackluster and uninspiring. To John Henry Newman, a cardinal in the Catholic Church, knowledge is something that “sees more than the senses convey, [something] which reasons upon what it sees … and invests it with an idea,” but in schools in America there is no seeing more or investing in ideas, it’s just taking notes, testing, and moving onto the next subject (27). Teachers are required by common core education laws to stick to a strict schedule and rarely, if ever, venture off script. National Testing is all everyone seems to care about, and how America stands up against the other countries. People seem to ignore the fact that America is actually the worst of the first world countries in primary education. They question why it’s so hard to get a job and when the facts are staring them in the face. America wants higher education but simply can’t deliver it when they don’t teach critical thinking in the