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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My siblings a college professor.  He says it’s really bad for years and gotten worse.  [b]Critical thought is dead and there is no interest in reviving it.[/b]  It’s bad news[/quote]

That's because we no longer teach kids in a way that makes sense to teach them critical thinking. First stuff their heads with facts in elementary (so they have a basis from which to even begin to think), then teach them logic in middle, then teach the persuasion in high school. [url=https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Tools-Learning-Dorothy-Sayers/dp/1941129862]Dorothy Sayers was right[/url].[/quote]

They're now being taught persuasive writing in elementary school.  That's one of the things that is leading to all these unintended consequences.  Research is no longer about gathering general information that then gets analayzed.  Research nowadays is entirely about finding support for the argument they come up with first.[/quote]

PP. Persuasive writing is not the problem.  I understand what you're trying to say but in my school district there's not enough persuasive writing to create little spinmeisters.  There's just not enough factual non-fiction and analytical writing.  There are more explicit media literacy units though - those are actually useful.[/quote]

Maybe your district is different than mine.  In mine it is almost entirely persuasive writing with a little bit of narrative.  Kids, starting in at least fourth grade, are constantly asked to provide their opinion on subjects that they do not have anything close to the background knowledge needed to have an informed opinion.

Obviously it is not the sole problem but the elevation of opinion above fact has knock on effects that we see all over the place[/quote]

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