Teachers - When You Teach Your Kids Critical Thinking, Don't Be Surprised When...

…they criticize you.

Here’s something fun that I tell my students pretty much every day: the hallmark of intellectual honesty is acknowledging that one might be wrong. So, with this in mind, I encourage them to challenge me all the time. I love it when they do this – when they push me to provide evidence for the assertions I might happen to make in class. Fair warning to their future college professors. My students are going to hold you accountable – and I say this unapologetically.

Just the other day a very promising student called me out on sloppy thinking – and you know what…she was right. Without going into detail, she noted how I could easily make a particular point because I knew how things eventually transpired…but that when reading history forward (without the vantage point of my knowledge in the twenty-first century) people during the time would have most certainly interpreted the events in a very different way. HUZZAH! I had to yield my position – my well-trained and thoughtful student got me on this one.

I encourage all teachers to embrace this attitude. When we teach our students how to think critically, we should not be surprised when they criticize us. And oh yes indeed they will. But it’s especially important these days, when so many have entrenched themselves into unbending positions. If we want our students to go on in life open to new ideas, with the ability to revise their thinking when presented with compelling evidence, at least listening to what an opposing viewpoint has to offer, then we must lead by example. 

 With compliments,

Keith