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Most teachers shy away from the discussion of controversial issues in the classroom.
But, Mr. Winn fears, if students are not given the guidance and opportunity to engage in critical thinking and discourse in school, they will not be capable of carrying out their responsibilities as citizens in a democratic society.
WHY CAN'T my students think for themselves? Why are they so unprepared and so often intellectually lazy? Why do they expect me to do their thinking for them?
These are common complaints, voiced by those who teach both in our elementary and secondary schools and in our colleges and universities. But if the truth be known, relatively few teachers and professors are using the kinds of materials and the discussion strategies that would build in their students a mental set and a taste for critical thinking. Thus the typical classroom atmosphere and procedures dull the possibilities for creating the very qualities of mind that educators avow as their goal.
Field studies in large samples of secondary schools have revealed that teachers use a very restricted range of pedagogical options, and these are mainly the ones that require looking up answers and recalling information. There is little emphasis on the evaluation of knowledge or the promotion of intellectual curiosity, with most of the time available for discussion dominated by teacher talk. Left as passive (and bored) spectators, with little chance to evaluate the information presented or to make critical judgments, students turn off intellectually and simply go through the motions necessary to complete the course. The same is true at the college level.
For too long, American society and American education have adored the quiz whiz - the one who can shoot back correct answers to factual questions as in a TV game show, as if that were indeed a true measure of wisdom. Even more disturbing is the societal pressure to conform and to shy away from critical thinking because it is not "polite" or "nice." Americans commonly confuse the...