More vindication of classical education, which cultivates knowledge (grammar) AND understanding (logic) AND application (rhetoric). As opposed to various contemporary methods which, for reasons I cannot understand, fixate on only one of these dimensions of education and denigrate the others. This article discusses the fad of critical thinking, including the admission that educators cannot even define it! The various approaches are incoherent,with the most obnoxious version being “just question everything.” More substantive scholars say that being able to think critically requires (again, see below) CONTENT. You have to think ABOUT SOMETHING. Whereas much of the critical thinking curriculum is all process, trying to provoke content-free thinking. (The classical solution: DIALECTIC, featuring questions AND answers, as in that great model of classical education, the catechism, which, properly used, helps the student answer the question, “what does this mean?”)
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