Let's Stop Trying To Teach Students Critical Thinking By James

Controversy, Not Conversation

Let’s Stop Trying to Teach Students Critical Thinking was published August of 2014 by

Dennis Hayes, a professor of Education at the University of Derby. Citing philosophers such as John Passmore and John Anderson, as well as the Victorian cultural critic, Matthew Arnold, the article discusses the impossibility of teaching students critical thinking without a critical spirit. Furthermore, the article cites common misconceptions that all do disservice to critical thinking, namely, that it is a skill, that it entails indoctrination, and that critical theories are uncritical theories. Hayes takes a controversial stance on the issue, but his lack of evidence and failure to clarify his terms render his arguments questionable.

The most conspicuous flaw in Let’s Stop Trying To

According to Hayes, the notion of the misuse of “criticism” first came to him when he gave a talk on the subject to a large group of first-year students. He goes on to say that one of the students had shared her longing for teachers who asserted themselves as these were the ones who could be challenged. This student said that she preferred these types of teachers over the ones who “banged on about the importance of being critical.” Although the incident that he shared was interesting, Hayes hastily draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough. Simply put, a single student cannot represent the sentiments of the entire student population. Furthermore, Hayes himself spelled out that he had given the lecture to first-year students only yet he assumes that the same case applies to students across all levels. Additionally, Hayes fails to provide sufficient information regarding his sample. It is unclear if the population was composed of first-year high school students or