What is your Opinion on Having Required Classes in Logic in Schools?

[brewer]

Absolutely. Maybe not in elementary but anytime after (if they can handle science they can handle logic/reason/......). Have to be an elective, some want to go through life being told what to believe (ignorance is bliss). If an elective the religious can opt out.

[AFTT47]

It would be very beneficial, no doubt. I think there would be a lot of resistance to it in the U.S. because the religious right would paint it as state-sponsored teaching of atheism.

It absolutely should not be taught as preaching atheism.  It should be taught as critical thinking, just as it is commonly done in colleges today.  It is about method, not about results.

Of course it shouldn't be taught as preaching atheism but it would be criticized as doing that anyway. Teaching of evolution is opposed because it obviously contradicts Genesis. Critical thinking would be opposed because it contradicts faith.

I'm not saying I would be opposed to trying to get it into the schools here but it should be recognized that it would be a battle.

[Pyrrho]

I have never heard anyone complain about Critical Thinking or Logic classes in college being atheistic.  So I am skeptical of it happening in grade school, if it were properly taught.  However, I suppose I cannot completely rule it out as a possibility.

[robvalue]

I think it would be a great idea!

[Dystopia]

Depending on the country students already have heavy schedules to allow for a critical thinking class - I do think it's a good idea though. A problem I see with this is that there's a lot of types of classes that could be taught as well, so I don't know why critical thinking and logic takes preference. In my country, highschool has a mandatory class of philosophy, so that usually teaches critical thinking and logic decently (at least for me it did and I had good scores).

[Pyrrho]

Depending on the country students already have heavy schedules to allow for a critical thinking class - I do think it's a good idea though. A problem I see with this is that there's a lot of types of classes that could be taught as well, so I don't know why critical thinking and logic takes preference. In my country, highschool has a mandatory class of philosophy, so that usually teaches critical thinking and logic decently (at least for me it did and I had good scores).

Here is why I think logic and critical thinking should be taught early on:  It is applicable to all other subjects.  Reasoning fallaciously gets one into trouble regardless of the subject matter, and since committing fallacies is common, it would be very beneficial to do something to reduce the amount of fallacious reasoning that people engage in.  Cogent reasoning is good for all subjects, so it would likely help students perform better in all other subjects.

Regarding your high school requirement, in the U.S., there is generally no philosophy requirement in high school (or earlier) at all.  Not only that, but it typically is not even offered as an elective.

[Salacious B. Crumb]

[quote='Salacious B. Crumb' pid='1005795' dateline='1437934800']

In elementary school, it could be something as simple as a worksheet saying: Which of the following events likely never took place.. A. B. C. D. One of the answers could be a horse grew wings and flew to a different planet, but maybe not a great idea, I was thinking what the parents would think, as I was writing this. In one country, it would be considered good, but in the U.S., it may not be a smart move as of yet, but who knows..

That is not how critical thinking should be taught.

Yeah, that was more of an idea for a 1st or 2nd grade teacher to work on training the students in skepticism. Thanks for the book recommendation on critical thinking though. I do like the idea of critical thinking and such, added to the curriculum for the young ones.

And, yes, none of the critical thinking or logic classes should mention religion, or promote or denigrate atheism in any sort of way.

[Jenny A]

It would be very beneficial, no doubt. I think there would be a lot of resistance to it in the U.S. because the religious right would paint it as state-sponsored teaching of atheism.

It wasn't a required class, but it was available at my high school in the U.S. and I took it.  It was never even hinted that there was something atheist about it.  I took it again at the college level from the philosophy department.  No hint it was an anti-religious class there either.   And it isn't.  It's more like math than anything else.

[Ravenshire]

Absolutely. Maybe not in elementary but anytime after (if they can handle science they can handle logic/reason/......). Have to be an elective, some want to go through life being told what to believe (ignorance is bliss). If an elective the religious can opt out.

(emphasis is mine)

They teach science in elementary school.

[Ravenshire]

It would be very beneficial, no doubt. I think there would be a lot of resistance to it in the U.S. because the religious right would paint it as state-sponsored teaching of atheism.

It wasn't a required class, but it was available at my high school in the U.S. and I took it.  It was never even hinted that there was something atheist about it.  I took it again at the college level from the philosophy department.  No hint it was an anti-religious class there either.   And it isn't.  It's more like math than anything else.

(emphasis is mine)

I think there's an (erroneous) belief in this country (US) that mathematics will teach our kids all the logic and critical thinking that they need to learn.