Why do we worry about minorities in this country?

[Belsnickel]

(09-20-2015, 10:00 AM)Beaker Wrote: This is exactly right. We have become a nation of followers. The way kids are taught in school doesn't teach them to think independently. Social media doesn't teach them to think independently. Going to church on Sunday doesn't teach them to think independently. I would even dare to bet that more than 80% of the US population tends to be followers...and growing. It is now the prevailing mindset.

I have been trying to impact that in my classroom. I am constantly giving them assignments that require them to think critically and problem solve. In the beginning of the year, they look at me like deer in the headlights. But they do better and better as the year goes on. You would be amazed at just how little independent thinking kids are required to do, both at home and in school. It is a learned skill. We should be more cognizant of that fact overall. We should ask it more of kids both at home and at school. I am constantly pointing out to my daughter examples of where people don't even bother to think about what was just said, they simply agree with it. Its kinda scary.

You're very right. Independent, critical thinking is so absent today. I have to take some gen eds for the degree I am working on and so am in classes with teenagers. They have such a hard tome putting together "if this, then that" without it being spoon fed to them. We had an assignment where we had to reverse an equation from what the notes showed. We were given the answer we had been searching for when practicing and had to find the beginning variable. Probably 70% of these kids could not do it.