Reasoning? Learn it or lose it......

Should reasoning be taught in schools? If so, what grades and how much of it? Well I'm pretty sure that you know people who could use a good reasoning class or two, mainly because it seems that they can't seem to make the right decisions. This might be true but haven't we all made a few mistakes in our life? You see I think we can all apply a little critical thinking to our daily lives, and I believe that they should start teaching these classes in middle school.

You see at a young age children can develop habits that will stick with them until they die. A good example is kids eating habits, parents should watch how and what they eat because their kids will reflect that their entire lives. As Revolution Health puts it, "Be a good role model. Practice the eating and exercise habits you'd like your children to have. Your example is your child's most powerful learning tool." This is just one example of how children are affected by what parents do. But what about the kids who don't have very good role models at home? This is where the critical thinking comes in.

Kids need to learn what critical thinking is and how to use it in applicable ways early on in childhood. Critical thinking is needed in life and very useful in juggling what life will throw at you. For most of us juggling a job and a marriage and kids is how we live and learn the critical thinking aspect of things but if your like me and every other person on this planet there are some decisions that you've made that you have realized probably weren't the best ones. But you realized this and you course corrected yourself, but some people don't seem to do this very well. Some kids seem to just keep putting their hand up on the stove and they continue to burn themselves even after they have experience the pain of their mistake.

Some people think these kids are just plain dumb and it's,"Their fault," that they continue to make the same wrong decisions. Well, maybe so, but if you can teach these kids to stop making the same mistakes at young age then why not? Why wouldn't we offer these classes to help these kids? Well the answer is simple, we SHOULD offer these classes and we should make some of them mandatory. We need to get children to realized that they need to think things through and they need to think about the consequences in both the long term and the short term.

Since kids are so impressionable it is very plausible, (and also very realistic seeing as we all know someone who thinks very poorly of themselves for the mistakes that they have made) that they think that they are the problem, not realizing that the CHOICES they make is the problem not them. This can lead into a downward spiral of depression and cause a human being to repeat the same mistakes thinking that's just who they are rather than realizing that you are who you choose to be.

This is a very real need in our society and it needs to be addressed. Students should be exposed to critical thinking at younger ages and realize how important these skill sets are. No one is born with knowledge, we all acquire it. So lets start getting some good education and real world skill sets into our schools. Show up at school meetings, talk to your school superintendent, let the school board know what you would like to be taught, call your state governor and let them know that schools need to start incorporating this into the curriculum. Alas, more importantly teach your kids at home and be an example, let them experience some pain, let them realize that they define who they are through their actions. Again, this is a very real need and we need to get critical thinking into our schools and children's minds.