Think for yourself?

Are we doing a good enough job of teaching kids to think for themselves? Is critical thinking taught well at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary (college) levels? This is a really open discussion, and I think most "evidence" in this thread will be anecdotal, so have fun with that. However, I have a hunch that this topic is more controversial than it seems at first glance.

Discuss!

This is a really hard question to answer so I'm going to keep it general and brief and focus on my own experiences.

Here in Australia, our primary school education is intended to have a strong focus on the development of critical thinking. We have Vygotsky's educational theories beaten into us at university so we know how to lead a child in the right direction when necessary without actually straight up telling them the answer. Classrooms are also supposed to have a focus on developing an autonomy. For example, we teach problem solving strategies instead of solving a child's problems for them. Whether or not all teachers actually put this into practice I can't say, I doubt that all do though that's for sure. Generally speaking though, this piece of our education system actually isn't flawed surprisingly enough.

Then middle school and high school happen and we proceed to undo everything that we just worked to develop. Critical thinking is not developed at all in high schools outside of a few very good teachers and very specific subjects (which are generally those that your "average Joe" students can't/won't be found in). The high school education mentality is "This is on the board. Do it. Do it exactly like that." There isn't room for critical thinking and that needs to change.

Hell, as I was saying to someone the other night, I actually got marked down in Physics once because I found a much more effective method of solving a problem that used more logic and less equations than the one we were taught. I got the answer right and found a better method and lost marks because I strayed from the beaten path. Sure this is just the thoughts of one teacher, but I think it speaks volumes for the mentality in high schools.

Then you get to university and it is even worse. They'll give you assignments that basically require you to sprout whatever point of view the writers of the unit support without allowing you any room for actual critique of the topic. They tell you what to say and how to say it and if you deviate or question that you can kiss your chances of passing goodbye.

So yes, we do teach our kids how to think critically and autonomously. We just then progressively beat that ability back out of them once they leave primary education.

Kind of a side note I guess, but I love history for that reason. People existed (indeed they did!) way back when and they were as people as you or I. I think studying and learning about history is a great exercise in empathy, because you realize that diverse people can have reasonable motivations for the actions they chose, even if this brought them into conflict with others.

My high school definitely encourages critical thinking, at least in the honors and AP courses. My honors world history teacher just taught us the information and the tests were mostly opinion questions. Of course, we had to know the information to answer the opinion questions. He only did his tests with short answer and essay.

My english teacher also had a lot of discussion in class about our opinions.

I prefer answer more open ended questions rather than than multiple choice, even if its more difficult. I prefer the classes that encourage critical thinking skills.

A lot of teachers and professors have a left-leaning bias. However, most of the ones I had still generally did their duty and encouraged critical thinking, though their bias showed through quite often. I think I just got lucky, though; the schools where I live are pretty solid.

The NCEA system for most NZ high schools is notorious amongst both students and staff for its rigidity and seemingly deliberate refusal to allow for critical thinking. While the restrictions in normal classes are alleviated somewhat, the teacher is still forced to adhere to what is most likely the most rigid educational system in the Southern hemisphere. When it comes to exams and tests in general, how a student writes, learns and expresses their knowledge are thoroughly restricted, allowing only one or two paths to academic success; a student has to memorise what NCEA markers want and essentially suck up to them. As a whole, it is thoroughly despised by most teachers, who feel extremely limited in their teaching approaches and believe that its only use is for when examinations come round, not for the other 80% of the school year.

So, from my experience, those who work in education encourage critical thinking, but are tightly limited in how students actually express it under the current system. That's only my experience though, some places in the country use the more lax Cambridge system, though that system is occasionally sneered upon by some universities here and prefer students raised under the NCEA system.