Teaching critical thinking is a goal that has widespread support. But it cannot possibly be achieved if students are not first grounded in factual knowledge (“Pandemic learning loss is real. Schools must follow the science to make up for it,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 6).
Without the facts, what purports to be critical thinking is nothing more than a farrago of feelings. Yet teachers are warned that insisting on facts will turn off their students. If so, then I say so be it.
Most students today graduate high school without learning how to make an argument and support it because they’ve never learned applicable facts. But they believe they are critical thinkers because they feel strongly about issues.
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