• seaQueue@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Most Americans have never had critical thinking as part of their educational curricula. If you’re very lucky you’ll cover critical thinking skills as part of AP English in highschool, otherwise that’s a second semester course your freshman year of college. Most Americans can’t look at a particular piece of media and unpack what it’s saying and why it’s saying it. Americans are ridiculously easy to manipulate as a result.

    • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Tbf most schools don’t. Mine in the UK didn’t either. Critical thinking isn’t something a curriculum can teach you, it’s something you need to pick up yourself and adapt from all the other things you’re taught. School can definitely help you develop those skills tho although I think this is just another reflection of how badly the US invests in education. That and the rampant misinformation and propaganda all over the place that seems to teach people to only trust what reaffirms their own beliefs. Society is f*cked until we actually take a long hard look at where we are, why, and where we should be.

      • III@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Critical thinking isn’t something a curriculum can teach you

        That’s just not true. Yes, you can pick it up yourself but this is not an unteachable concept.

      • mx_smith@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Well that may be a good excuse if you’re failing your critical thinking class. I had one in college and it was great.