Comments on: Logic and illogic in education

By: Melissa Richey Irwin

Melissa Richey Irwin — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 01:54:25 +0000

Hello,
I am a sophomore at a local community college, and am taking English Comp II. My research essay thesis is that high school curriculums should definitely include logic. I came across your blog when I googled “logic+education+blog,” and was immediately drawn to your article and thought it might be a good forum for sharing some thoughts about my essay. A part of my essay pertained to confirmation bias, and how logic can help in avoidance of the same. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and process information that supports a decision or previously held belief. It is my belief that classes in critical thinking and logic would assist children today in all aspects of their life: personally, academically, and professionally. These classes would help them identify errors in thinking so they could steer clear of confirmation bias. It is unfortunate that classical education (the Trivium, specifically) is not part of the American public school curriculum. Some logic is offered to those students that have been determined to be academically gifted, but learning logic would be an incredible asset to all students regardless of their academic abilities.
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts, I enjoyed your article immensely.
Melissa R.
Aurora, CO

By: Logic and illogic in education | History in a Hurry

Logic and illogic in education | History in a Hurry — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 22:18:30 +0000

[…] http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/logic-and-illogic-in-education/ […]

By: henry

henry — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:40:57 +0000

America is the land of the free and home of the brave where you can’t fight city hall. There is an obvious conflict in this statement. The first part implies that governments are your servant. The second part implies that government is your master. Most people in America hold both ideas in their head at the same time but don’t see a conflict. It’s a conundrum that is used to dis-empower people. “I can’t figure this stuff out — I’ll let the experts work on that”. If you have figure it out, you are told to lie to those who haven’t.

Imagine you are a small child who has seen Santa at the mall, seen his images with the reindeer , and heard the stories and songs countless times. Then an older kid tells you that Santa is not real. What do you do? You have the option of of using reason — How would Santa know if I’m good or bad? How can reindeer fly? How can Santa have time to visit every house in one night? Or, you could reject reason and go with the stories that every one else has told you is true. How could it be that everyone is lying to me? When you bring this conflict to your parent, they tell you that Santa is a story but you should continue the lie to those who don’t know the truth. You become part of the smart crowd in propagating lies to the not so smart crowd.

People know that most of what they hear are lies — If I buy this car, I’m probably not going to get the girl. — but they never confront the lies because they don’t want take the energy to determine the truth and they don’t want to be seen as part of the not-so smart crowd.

By: Sharina

Sharina — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:21:29 +0000

“Teachers spend little or no time discussing hidden premises or assumptions, which color subsequent arguments.”

It goes beyond that. In a philosophy class, a PROFESSOR told a friend of mine that exposing and critiquing hidden premises and assumptions is not allowed.

By: andy

andy — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 15:19:09 +0000

arizona is really pushing for sovereignty along with texas,and more and more south and midwest states have had enough of the federal tyranny.

By: Logic and illogic in education : NETucation

Logic and illogic in education : NETucation — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 05:51:19 +0000

[…] read the complete article on the Jon Rappoport blog… […]

By: theodorewesson

theodorewesson — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:18:56 +0000

You got me thinking,… I wonder if/when, some time in the very near future, if someone says that to the allopathic doctor (“no Rxs”), that that will be, in itself, a red flag. Maybe not for the doctor per se, but to an algorithm that will run on the electronic record of that visit by a third party.

(under obamacare, i believe that ALL allopaths’ practises must be on an “electronic records system connected to The Internets” — if they are to keep their licenses.)

By: Elsa

Elsa — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 22:46:39 +0000

A friend of mine in her 50’s visited the doctor and, as he asked her what prescription drugs she was taking, he got his pen and note pad ready. He looked quite shocked when she informed him she wasn’t taking anything. I treat illnesses myself and have never taken their poisonous drugs.

By: Dani

Dani — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:36:35 +0000

What is worse, the public schools around here (probably everywhere) are emphasizing “teaching critical thinking skills” which means pretty much, learning to follow the lesson’s convoluted and confounding illogic to reach the desired “conclusion.” If you learn it correctly, you get an A. If you question it, you are downgraded. What frustrates me is how few adults I mention this to, see the same thing I do. Instead, they applaud, “hooray! They are teaching our children critical thinking skills!”

Seemingly unrelated but not really: this weekend a random stranger shared our table at a restaurant. He seemed sane and functioning at first, but it soon became clear he was a bit unbalanced. Then he revealed all the doctor-prescribed meds he was on. I was concerned and alarmed, as it hit me how many impaired people like this are driving on the roads. It is hard to be the only non-drinker in a room of drunks. And it is hard to be a pharmaceutical-free person in a world of users and addicts (whether doctor-prescribed or street-obtained). How many of us are taking at least one doctor-prescribed drug? I am shocked to find out that I am one of the only people I know, who doesn’t take anything at all.

By: M.K. Styllinski

M.K. Styllinski — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 10:46:29 +0000

Great article. This is why common core is such a dangerous imposition since it is entirely devoid of any critical thinking at all. But then again, I’m not in favour of state education at all preferring the home schooling route.