The American School and Prospects for Critical Thought

Abstract

The current "thinking skills" movement proceeds under the assumption that students do not emerge from schools as critical thinkers and offers increased instruction in thinking skills as the solution. While attention is needed on the pedagogical front, and current theorists have contributed to the awareness of the need for critical thought in the curriculum, the nature and context of the school encounter in relation to critical thinking have gone largely unexamined. The author argues that the authoritarian and bureaucratic features of the existing system have a significant influence on the thinking of the young. Not only do these controlling elements of the enterprise restrict the thinking that is possible under such conditions, they also affect the views of knowledge and roles of learners which can be accommodated by the existing structure.