RE: What is your Opinion on Having Required Classes in Logic in Schools?
July 27, 2015 at 9:35 am
(July 26, 2015 at 10:16 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: For formal, non-arithmetic logic, I say yes, as a part of high school. The two most important classes I ever had were:
Propaganda and Persuasion
Introduction to Formal Logic
At UNH. Classes specifically designed to cut through bullshit and lazy, if attractive, appeals while also showing how to form a logical argument.
One of the things that struck me when I took Introduction to Logic was how difficult many students found the class to be. The teacher was extremely patient and gave excellent examples, but some people did not seem to understand even after repeated explanations and multiple examples. It is frightening how poorly many people reason.
I think it might be better to teach them earlier, before they become set in bad habits of thinking. From talking with the logic teacher later, he seemed to think the same thing, as he had previously been a teacher of much younger students (perhaps late grade school? I do not precisely remember). And when he taught the younger students, he snuck in some critical thinking and logic, and he said, on average, they seemed to learn it easier than his college students.
A bit off topic, but another disturbing class was sex education in high school. I remember being shocked at some of the misinformation that some classmates believed (e.g., the silly idea that you can't get pregnant the first time, you can just tell by looking at someone if they have VD, etc.). When people make important decisions in life based on misinformation and faulty reasoning, it is no wonder that so many people screw up so many things in their lives.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.