From: Zenarchy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Mon Dec 14 1998 - 11:59:12 MST
Leon Boey wrote,
>does anybody think teaching critical thinking at a young age (<>6) would be
>helpful?
>perhaps it would bring about a more extropian society?
>
>if yes, how do you think it could be implemented?
I'll bet a nickel no one seriously suggests "no" as an answer.
I figured out how to implement critical thinking all by myself, as did
everyone else who learned how to think for themselves. Furthermore, I
figured out that thinking for oneself comes naturally, if one does not
succumb to intentional programming at the hands of true believers.
Uncritical thinking derives from prejudice, bias, etc., instilled by early
mentors or peer group pressures. Critical thinking happens when brains don't
get ineradicably etched by cultural and social conditioning.
But if you mean by "teaching critical thinking" installing potential
autonomy in the young rational brain, you do that simply by permitting
children to operate in freedom. In fact, the more difficult task of
brainwashing children falls to instituted education, without which, children
often maintain a happy and extropic disposition well into adulthood. As the
Internet (if it remains unregulated by government censorship) offers greater
intellectual freedom, it provides another potent tool for accelerating
educational opportunity for young brains.
Bottom line: Get the kids wired, and get out of the way.
-zen
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