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.
*(1)
This paragraph can be found in the Education Section of the 2012 Texas GOP Platform.
Really!!
For someone such as myself, this is pretty scary stuff.
But... what exactly is going on here.
Well, in my opinion, there are those people in the world who would feel far more comfortable if, the rest of the people in that same world, were less capable of questioning what the former wishes them to believe.
So... here goes!
I may be going way out on a limb here, but think I’ll start with the book of Genesis 2-3 . Having been warned by God to not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge (it probably wasn’t an apple by the way), Eve, tempted by the serpent (evil), and then followed by Adam, disobeyed God, both eating the fruit and leading to “Mans fall from grace”.
From this point forward, the battle lines between faith and reason were being drawn.
To me, the primacy of “Free Will” began here. That every man has the ability to choose, many would argue, between good and evil, I would argue rather that the point is of choice only. This concept, “Free Will”, would provide fundamental principal to both Philosophy (reason) and Faith (theology).
Endless debate, historic and current, question not only the existence of “Free Will”, but also it’s role, if any, in the “Human Experience”.
This idea of choice is fundamental to my understanding of thought.
But... to make a choice, I must first think. And to think I must......
Here’s where it gets a bit complicated.
Choice requires knowledge. But... knowledge does not necessarily require thinking.
With little if any thought regarding the source or accuracy of the knowledge, a choice can still be made.
The authors of the paragraph preceding this paper, would doubtless, support this latter model for making a choice.
Now, I choose (pun intended) a different model, one a little surprising even to myself, owing it’s roots to my own Father. A deeply religious man, of a fundamentalist Baptist persuasion, he none-the-less instilled in me a deeply suspicious nature. He would caution me, the Bible not withstanding, that for any information, you should always consider it’s source. What is their agenda? Additionally, “follow the money”, meaning who stands to gain from this, was another often heard bit of advice.
His Anabaptist roots would burrow far deeper into my being than any of his more modern fundamentalist Baptist teachings. That and his desire that I should embrace reading and receive a strong education. His belief in “Free Will”, of informed and willing choice, would in his mind, eventually guide me to choose the faith at the proper moment.
While that moment never arrived, the concept of “Free Will”, of individual choice, of responsibility for choice, of thinking before making a choice. These lessons would pass to me and form the very foundation of my thinking.
However, these “roots of knowledge”, planted in my youth, would grow to eventually undercut the very choice I’m sure he would have wished for me.
This I understand all to well, is a primary driver for paragraph number one.
Now, a foundation is but a beginning, education must follow to provide the necessary tools for thinking and choice.
The “toolbox”, if you will, I’ll call “Critical Thinking”.
Highly subversive to some, threatening, heretical even, depending upon the era.
But, what is “Critical Thinking”?
Critical thinking is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, partially true, or false. Critical thinking is a process that leads to skills that can be learned, mastered and used. Critical thinking is a tool by which one can come about reasoned conclusions based on a reasoned process. This process incorporates passion and creativity, but guides it with discipline, practicality and common sense.
The list of core critical thinking skills includes observation, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and metacognition ( knowing about knowing).
The habits of mind that characterize a person strongly disposed toward critical thinking include a desire to follow reason and evidence wherever they may lead, a systematic approach to problem solving, inquisitiveness, even-handedness, and confidence in reasoning. *(2)
This reasoned approach to thinking, can only in part be taught. Some would argue, that it can’t be taught at all. I steadfastly believe these skills can largely be taught but, in addition to possessing these strong critical-thinking skills, one must be first be willing to engage problems and decisions using those skills.
Most of us posses some, and, perhaps some of us even, most of these skills.
Fewer still, have the disposition to regularly apply these skills to their everyday lives.
Those who do are likely the product of an “enlightened” educational system, perhaps another time and place. Be grateful for both, for as I think you can see, there are those who are threatened by these skills and even seek to limit or eliminate them outright.
With the growing complexity of the world and times in which we live, there has never been a time which more demanded that we use these skills to their fullest. There has never been more information available, so many agendas to determine. True/false, real/imagined, fact/fiction, authentic/manipulated.
Never has it been easier to manufacture “illusion” and never has it been more difficult to ascertain the “truth”.
We should, therefore all find the words of paragraph one to be quite disturbing.
This thinking is not limited to Texas.
No, this is all around us.
Without these essential skills, subsequent generations will find themselves less and less equipped to filter true from false.
You know, there’s not even some evil conspiracy at work here. It’s the only logical outcome really.
If your market, your constituency, they lack the skills to make their own enlightened choices, then your task, whatever you might be “selling”, just got markedly easier.
Remember.... “just follow the money”.
Sources:
*(1)
Texas GOP rejects ‘critical thinking’ skills. Really. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_b
*(2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
Additional Reading:
“New Law in North Carolina Bans Latest Scientific Predictions of Sea-Level Rise”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/north-carolina-bans-latest-science-rising-sea-level/story?id=16913782
"Evolution at Center of Debate over Science Textbooks and e-Books"
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130915-evolution-at-center-of-debate-over-science-textbooks-and-e-books.ece?nclick_check=1
“The Skeptical Enquirer”,
http://www.csicop.org/si/archive
"The Skeptical Inquirer" is the official journal of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Six times per year Skeptical Inquirer publishes critical scientific evaluations of all manner of controversial and extraordinary claims, including but not limited to paranormal and fringe-science matters, and informed discussion of all relevant issues.
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