Should logic, reasoning and critical thinking be taught in schools?
Offline Well it's pretty much as the topic title says.
I am an athiest who came to the conclusion that there was no god (Christian, lest someone prove it) at the age of 10 (ish) without any knowledge, or understanding of logic, philosophy or critcal thinking. I was brought up by parents who had "Christian" stamped in their passports, but did not go to church, i.e non practicing or more like non-religious. I was educated in what would be called good (and I mean competent, middle-class) schools, but there were still "assemblies" with a Christian and/or non Christian theme and we sang "he's got the whole world in his hand" etc (which always used to annoy me because students would sing, "in his handS" when it was clearly printed that god only required one hand to hold the world.) grrr 
Having been an Athiest all my life I have always been asking myself, why? Not why am I an athiest, but why in general with regard to the world I see. However, I've never had tuition in logic or reasoning. Like most people! Even though I've a degree in metallurgy/materials science, I can only really apply logic as I see it. I hope you know what I mean. My thirst has lead me to other disciplines such as philosophy, however, I can't take the time out to go the whole hog. I am blessed with a friend who has a degree in philosophy and I can ping some arguments/ideas off his cranium.
Should logic, reasoning and critical thinking be taught much earlier, as a part of (high) school life (ages 11-16)?
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Well there are three ways we can address this question:
1. Yes!
2. Yes, your damn skippy they should be taught!!!!!!!
3. Goddammit I said YESSSS!!!!!
I wrote a blog on this, feel free to pull ideas from it.
http://www.rationalresponders.com/teach_logic
I prefer 4...
4. IT'S INTELLECTUAL TERRORISM NOT TO!!!!111!!!
"What right have you to condemn a murderer if you assume him necessary to "God's plan"? What logic can command the return of stolen property, or the branding of a thief, if the Almighty decreed it?"
-- The Economic Tendency of Freethought
I don't think you can teach critical thinking. You can provide the tools but in the end it's an individual choice whether you use them. Most christians have the skills to think critically, they just choose not to apply them in certain areas.
Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!
It's not in the governments interest to teach kids how to think critically, else they may question the legitimacy of the government, as well as beliefs in religion and other "spiritual" disciplines.
It's a shame, I suspect that most of you reading this will have fond memories of that one teacher they had who inspired them, and actually took an interest in teaching you how to think.
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Heck, kids learn basic arithmetic at 6 or 7. Logic is no more difficult. I think kids could easily start learning math, logic, even computer programming at around 5 if they have a good curriculum (at their level) and good teachers. Now, they won't be learning frickin calculus or modal logic, but the basics are really not difficult. Counting, the basis of math, can be taught at like 2(?) or 3 if you have a bright child.
I think people underestimate what kids can learn at young ages.
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Absolutely you can teach critical thinking, paranoid!
Granted, you could just call it "logic lite" if you wanted, but you can certainly teach it. I've done it for years teaching music, believe it or not. I have a friend who taught a university class (granted, it was non-credit requirement for new grad students) that was almost entirely critical thinking skills.
If I may opine briefly:
I think one of the reasons critical thinking/logic are so meticulously avoided is that many people in power are quite fond of being able to do illogical things. I don't mean just politically. If a parent teaches their kid how to think critically, the kid might just question why the mom or dad does something that doesn't make any sense.
Most people know when they're doing something illogical, and they do it anyway. If you teach everybody how to think critically, and give them the language to express it, then you get a lot more pointed criticism of illogical behavior.
(And, you get a populace that can effectively question its government...)
People like their illogic. They are also logical enough to recognize threats to it.
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But what of the student who says "I don't feel like this is right" or "I don't feel logic is the answer to everything" or "I feel that my mother is correct in assuming the God is far superior to your petty man-made logic" etc?
They're the ones who need it the most.
Like the rest of secular education god or no god isn't going to be teached. It would probably start out like an elective anyway. We can worry about the people who want to remain ignorant when that time comes.
Now if the course was a part of the education and needed to get into the next grade or what not the answer to most of those kinds of questions would be the same the school would give if they were talking about any other subject.
If someone said to me god was outside of logic I would tell them, "You can argue god is illogical all you want, but this is like math, history, or science. Its not for or against god."
I think logic, and philosophy, should be required in high school. People should at least know how to identify logical fallacies.
Religions and governments benefit when the populations are UNeducated.
So guess who runs our schools???
As you can see, the system is set up to "dummy us down" so we're more controllable.
We need to recognize this and get as much education as we possibly can, despite the limitations of the system.
My opinion is that schools PURPOSELY do not offer critical thinking and logic classes because it is not in the government's or religion's selfish interest to have a bunch of people running around who actually can figure out what's really going on and have the smarts to change it... which inevitably puts those in power out of business.
When the people lead, the leaders will follow.
Kids would love to learn computer programming, as they take to the computer quite naturally (it's intriguing to them, and it instantly responds to their input, which is highly rewarding) When you add in that kids take to new languages easily, its a natural.
When I was in school, we had typing classes, today, the idea is ridiculous because any child of 10 already can type: why? Because its now necesary in order to communicate, and highly rewarding... so what used to be a boring class you had to take at 16 is now somethng kids learn on their own by age 10.
The basics of a good computer language teach the basics of logic, just as math does.
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