Far too often, teachers shame students through back-handed statements. They make it seem as if a child is stupid or not using critical thinking if they do not regurgitate what the teacher has presented in their narrowly-defined scope of acceptable discourse. This kind of loaded language, coupled with sourcing that uses sophistic assertions and limited analysis, confuses children into thinking that they are using "thinking skills" by restating what was handed to them. This could not be further from the truth. The reality is that schooling manipulates children and fills them with a false sense of pride that they are somehow smart, critical thinkers by repeating exactly what a teacher wants to hear based on pre-picked sources. For young people to grow their thinking skills, they need to have an environment where they can have prolonged discourse with a diversity of information so that they can ask questions and think carefully about different possibilities. Exit the sophistically narrow discourse. Exit school. Learn how at Alliance for Self-Directed Education: http://self-directed.org -THT #school #teaching #education #teachers #civics