Think, you little bastards, think!
No information source is perfectly reliable, and so I'm equally worried about the credulous who believe everything they read, and the skeptical who reject everything just because it came from "the internet". Both are just an excuse not to think critically and check sources.
I think this skill is one of the most important and neglected in education. Imagine a course for sixth graders where the exams are just a list of facts, urban legends, half-truths. Google is available during the exam, and the mark is based on how well the student identifies the trustworthiness of each statement.
Final exam is composed entirely of statements by politicians and corporate leaders.
I want to teach this course, sure, but that's too small a goal. I want every sixth grade class in the world to teach it. Does anyone remember the "smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud"? How far would that kind of bullshit go in a world where every kid had this kind of education?
P.S. Just got this pointer on how to evaluate a web page's reliability: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
I think this skill is one of the most important and neglected in education. Imagine a course for sixth graders where the exams are just a list of facts, urban legends, half-truths. Google is available during the exam, and the mark is based on how well the student identifies the trustworthiness of each statement.
Final exam is composed entirely of statements by politicians and corporate leaders.
I want to teach this course, sure, but that's too small a goal. I want every sixth grade class in the world to teach it. Does anyone remember the "smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud"? How far would that kind of bullshit go in a world where every kid had this kind of education?
P.S. Just got this pointer on how to evaluate a web page's reliability: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
4 Comments on "Think, you little bastards, think!":
I couldn't agree more. I taught critical reasoning and argumentation theory to first year undergrads. Very bell curve. Most sort of understood the point of fallacies and critical thinking. Some never got it at all. And then there were those few who understood how the tools worked, how to evaluate a claim for the stated or hidden premises.
Teaching these same reasoning skills, skills known since before the time of Socrates and Aristotle, skills basic to our fundamental humanity, these need to be shared with our youth.
Just imagine a society in which critical thinking dominated, where every claim by a politician, marketing agent, or relative were to be examined in the light of reason. Wow!
Yet another utopian moment. ;)
This is one of the guiding beliefs for me though in donating money only to support education. I believe changing the future for the better by investing in the quality and availability of thinking tools and knowledge is the best way to improve our lot in this universe.
/soapbox off
That there were so few who could use the tools is disappointing and disturbing, considering you had a selection of 17-year-olds from a rich country who were smart enough and rich enough to attend university, and motivated enough to take your course.
You started with the elite and still had trouble getting them all to follow. Not much hope then for the masses is there?
Perhaps political discourse is doomed in general until people get collectively smarter.
"Perhaps ... discourse is doomed in general until people get collectively smarter."
I concur. And in honour of this strong agreement, and the clear need for smarter, I'm in discussion with The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence [ www.singinst.org ] to take on their communications. Basically the agreement is almost a deal. Fingers crossed. Their goal is to facilitate and accelerate effective research in artifical general intelligence around the world, and to ensure that ethical and human interests are addressed in the doing. Goal? Friendly AI - AI which will appreciate the value of all life.
Yes, we need smarter!
And we need better pedagogy.
I have to add though, that for us (humans) more is also needed: great, creative and informative education that includes not just the facts of the subject (who killed who when and where) but also the methods for finding more (research) and the tools for evaluating them (analysis).
Which was your point of course..
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