Do children have the right to education for critical thinking? Do we as educators have a corresponding obligation to help students become capable, independent, autonomous thinkers? Why?
Critical Thinking as an Intellectual Right Harvey Siegel
Philosophers and educational theorists have long held that a central aim of education is the fostering of rationality, or critical thought. According to this view, a well-educated person is one who is able to think well-to evaluate claims and arguments put forward by others, to reasonably formulate his or her own beliefs, and to act and be disposed to act in accordance with the dictates of reason. At present, there is a significant amount of work, both theoretical and practical, being done on behalf of critical thinking. Curricula are being formulated, programs developed, and tests constructed, all aimed at the educational enhancement of critical thinking. At the same time, theorists are attempting to refine the concept of critical thinking, to define its proper role in education, and to justify it as an educational ideal. This chapter is adapted from Siegel (in press), in which I argue that the critical thinker is best thought of as one who is appropriately moved by reasons. In this view, critical thinking involves a variety of reasoning and other cognitive skills; knowledge of various sorts; a set of tendencies or dispositions to exercise those skills and utilize that knowledge; the valuing of reasons and an appreciation of their epistemological force; and a certain sort of character. X am grateful to David Moshman and Carol Crowley for helpful comments on an earlier draft.
D. Morhrnan (ed.). Children's InleIktu.#l Righb.