By Sarah Ostergaard
We know the expression: Education is the key to new worlds. Education is the antidote to ignorance. Education is the ticket to prosperity.
My favorite: Education is the one thing no one can take away from you.
We need our students at all levels – CP, Honors, and AP – to be critical thinkers, to be able to see through the attention-grabbing headlines, and understand the complexities of the issues. They need to be able to identify and disregard fake news. They need to understand the unintended consequences that policies create for all different types of stakeholders. They need to be problem solvers for a future we don’t know much about yet.
Our students need to be well-read, able to do mental math, understand the scientific method and science’s basic principles, and know the histories of our world’s civilizations. Critical thinking needs to rest on a foundation of knowledge and be allowed to develop through consideration of complex topics.
To achieve this, teachers need to be allowed to teach. Not proctor more and more tests, not have to advocate for better working conditions, not be required to do vague “additional duties as assigned”, and not substitute teach during planning periods.
Our American purpose of education is to prepare young people to be productive citizens, contributing members of society, and informed members of our participatory democracy. This message isn’t political. Both sides of the aisle are affected when our students’ education is rendered ineffective through poor policies, over-testing, and watered-down lessons.
The need for a robust education and critical thinking skills is abundantly clear since it’s election season right now. Candidates on both sides of the aisle, even those in non-political contests, will accuse each other of lying and politically-charged proposed policies will conflict while ardently ignorant social media keyboard warriors will preach fiscal doom. How do we know what and whom to believe?
Critical thinking skills.
