Critical part of Education

[ralphomaha]

I believe that the most important part of an education is the development of the ability to think in a critical manner. There is a whole world of propaganda, wishful thinking, inherited thought, inherited belief, and agreement with the majority without giving a well-thought out personal opinion.

Here is a example of a very common element where there has been no critical thinking. I am talking about federal spending. Our national debt has grown and grown. Now, it seems that there are no serious proponents of a balanced budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for balancing our national budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for paying off our national debt.

It appears that the National debt will grow and grow until we hit a first disaster point. That point will occur when all we are able to do is to pay the interest on the National Debt. There are additional disasters after that such as printing money or defaulting on the debt.

Any educated person can see the trend of indebtedness that is gathering. Be fearful

There is a second part to this problem and it is the indebtedness of individuals. Individuals no long save money to make major purchases. Instead they buy them on credit and incur mountains of credit card debt that may cripple their finances for years.

As a nation and as individuals, we need the apply the tenets of critical thinking to this problem.

Ralph Ekwall

[capitalist dog]

Originally Posted by ralphomaha

I believe that the most important part of an education is the development of the ability to think in a critical manner. There is a whole world of propaganda, wishful thinking, inherited thought, inherited belief, and agreement with the majority without giving a well-thought out personal opinion.

Here is a example of a very common element where there has been no critical thinking. I am talking about federal spending. Our national debt has grown and grown. Now, it seems that there are no serious proponents of a balanced budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for balancing our national budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for paying off our national debt.

It appears that the National debt will grow and grow until we hit a first disaster point. That point will occur when all we are able to do is to pay the interest on the National Debt. There are additional disasters after that such as printing money or defaulting on the debt.

Any educated person can see the trend of indebtedness that is gathering. Be fearful

There is a second part to this problem and it is the indebtedness of individuals. Individuals no long save money to make major purchases. Instead they buy them on credit and incur mountains of credit card debt that may cripple their finances for years.

As a nation and as individuals, we need the apply the tenets of critical thinking to this problem.

Ralph Ekwall

I guess this assumes that if the general populace had better critical thinking skills, they would vote in accord with those critical thinking skills which would in turn seat politicians who advocated sound fiscal policy with an aim of reducing or eliminating the national debt, with such policies in and of themselves, conducive to production and savings rather than consumption and debt resulting in higher savings rates and lower debt rates on the part of individuals?

Could be, if the critical thinking process did not result in the conclusion that no vote has any statistical significance and no effect on election results which in turn may tend to discourage voting on the part of critical thinkers.

[hugo]

Maybe there is an eccentric billionairre out there who will get us thinking about the concept of balanced budgets. Compared to our unfunded medical liabilities the national debt is small potatos.

[autumngal]

Originally Posted by ralphomaha

I believe that the most important part of an education is the development of the ability to think in a critical manner. There is a whole world of propaganda, wishful thinking, inherited thought, inherited belief, and agreement with the majority without giving a well-thought out personal opinion.

hey ralph, nice topic. Not sure tho one really needs education to be taught that necessarily. Rather perhaps more they need to know the facts and understand how stuff really works for themselves. This can be accomplished by one putting in some time to actually know what it is they speak of before drawing a conclusion. aha! educating themselves.

[ThePortleyGent]

Originally Posted by ralphomaha

I believe that the most important part of an education is the development of the ability to think in a critical manner. There is a whole world of propaganda, wishful thinking, inherited thought, inherited belief, and agreement with the majority without giving a well-thought out personal opinion.

Here is a example of a very common element where there has been no critical thinking. I am talking about federal spending. Our national debt has grown and grown. Now, it seems that there are no serious proponents of a balanced budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for balancing our national budget. No politician of national standing has made any serious proposal for paying off our national debt.

It appears that the National debt will grow and grow until we hit a first disaster point. That point will occur when all we are able to do is to pay the interest on the National Debt. There are additional disasters after that such as printing money or defaulting on the debt.

Any educated person can see the trend of indebtedness that is gathering. Be fearful

There is a second part to this problem and it is the indebtedness of individuals. Individuals no long save money to make major purchases. Instead they buy them on credit and incur mountains of credit card debt that may cripple their finances for years.

As a nation and as individuals, we need the apply the tenets of critical thinking to this problem.

Ralph Ekwall

You are very correct, but just to attack you a little bit, friendly attacks of course. You seem to notice that no one has made a serious proposal for a real solution to national debt...so what are you doing about it? We American are so quick to blame our Government...while sitting in the chair, eating our potato chips....and yelling at politicians on CSPAN. If we really want change we have to do it ourselves, because all in all, WE...THE PEOPLE, control the Government. So an "educated" person would run for some office and work themselves up the chain...you don't need to be a genius to be in Congress. ANY "educated" person can solve these problems right? Does that include yourself? ...Plus lol we'll never get out of debt, so we might as well just let that go.

As far as education, the education system that is implemented in the States now, do not really advocate critical thinking, unless you are in higher level classes, such as Gifted, AP, or IB. And we all know that not EVERY student can be the smart one. So what do educational standards tell us to do? Give them a test to see how much they can remember for about an hour...make it multiple choice to give them at least a 25% chance of getting the right answer, then make the passing grade so low, that we pass the students who haven't learned a thing. Why should student was time "critically thinking" when they don't have to? When their system says they don't have to?

America, the dumbest smart people in the world...God I love my country!