Education - Promote Problem Solving, Critical Thinking and Logical Reasoning

What do you think is the purpose of education? Judging from the way our current education systems are setup, it seems that our main goal of education is to pass on knowledge from one generation to the next one. And we do this in a way which leaves very little room for questioning any of the received knowledge, or how such knowledge was gained in the first place. Mainly, children are thought to memorize and regurgitate someone else’s knowledge, in this we teach our children what to think and not how to think.

This is quite problematic as it prevents children from developing their own thought processes and subsequently their ability to think critically, i.e. being able to verify the authenticity and accuracy of absorbed knowledge, and by extension discovering one’s own truths. If knowledge is applied to discover truth, then wisdom is achieved. And that is the key point which is missing in our current education system: Wisdom. The application of knowledge.

Knowledge is lost. Wisdom is never forgotten.

Teaching the right amount of knowledge

Of course, without knowledge nothing can be achieved, the key lies in passing on the right amount of knowledge which builds a solid foundation of tools and methods that can be applied to create experience, which leads to experiential knowledge and discovery of new and more detailed knowledge.

Right now our schools are still highly focused on the memorization of knowledge and pay very little attention to wisdom. Classes like problem solving, critical thinking and logic don’t seem to be particularly appealing to parents. Most of them don’t want these kinds of subjects on their children’s curriculum. Children that are allowed to develop critical thinking abilities are much more likely to develop their own ideas and values, which leads them to abandon their parents’ morals, standards, and general way of life.

Author: Yannick
Last edited: 9. April 2023
Created: 9. April 2023