本帖最后由 hudu464 于 2009-12-9 15:03 编辑
ISSUE153
"Students should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively."
Critical thinking has been long considered as one of the paramount competences since the significant strides we have made in information accessibility. Its ascending importance, however, is not paralleled and matched by corresponding educational reform to equip students with a skeptical mind. Given the status quo of curriculum and pedagogy in mainstream schools, it is necessary, even desirable for students to bring certain skepticism to what and how they are taught.
Controversy over the neutrality of school curriculum comprises one key debate in education. The only agreed-upon statement in these continuous controversies is that there is no curriculum that is absolute neutral. Therefore, the necessity of bringing certain skepticism for students is self-evident as long as they are educated with a curriculum. On one hand are the traditional perceptions of knowledge, what essentialists advocate for. Curriculums based on this conventional knowledge are accused of various kinds of implied inequalities. There are negative stereotypes of women in literature, absence of minority's history and culture in social studies and racial-based picture illustrated in textbooks. Students, especially pre-college students, can be extremely vulnerable to the underlying biased ideas and values in this kind of curriculum. On another hand are those reshaped curriculum based on dissatisfactions over traditional curriculums. Educators in this field proclaim that the social utility of knowledge and practical skills should be attached more importance. One trend derived from these reforms is to design a career-oriented curriculum. This vocational education, however, sometimes is identified as government schemes to alleviate unemployment and is more likely to occupy than educate. Education for students who enrolled in this curriculum could be reduced to mere survival skills training. It is clear that for both traditional and reformed curriculums in education system, a skeptical mindset is necessary for the personal advancement of students.
With current pedagogical development in schools, underachievement in critical thinking are recognized and explained, but seldom acted upon. How adopted pedagogies can contribute to critical thinking development is subject to the content of the curriculum. For the traditional version, as discussed above, didactic approach by which teachers lecture the students and dominate classroom shows a high frequency. Given a relatively fixed and stable body of knowledge, this approach is practical and efficient to explain and transmit knowledge to a class of students. Critical thinking in this case is likely to be overlooked and even suppressed. Reforms targeted at this deficiency of the traditional pedagogy have a sweeping effect all around the world. Progressive movement, for example, challenged the old-fashioned spoon feeding and developed its own way of learning by doing. Exemplary school like Chicago school established by John Dewey proved its merits. These reforms, after so many years of development, remained in theoretical discussion and government report, having no telling effect in real classroom teaching. What're more, the didactic approach is still very powerful across the globe in pre-college education, where primary and secondary students are deprived of their best chances to develop a highly required thinking skill.
Curriculums and pedagogies are two areas in current education system that needs further adjustment to meet the increasing demand for critical thinking skills. While teachers at the center stage of these efforts, parents and other social agencies should work collaboratively to better prepare the next generation for the challenges and chances ahead. |