MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
We should teach people to be critical.
Far too often people take what they read for granted without any
thought or double-checking. We should work to keep featured articles
accurate (because they're supposed to be the best). To get rid of
other inaccuracies we should look for sources. If we don't have any,
people should be naturally untrusting and try to verify the info
another way.
NO ONE can guarantee absolutely correct info. Look at Britannica.
Teaching people to be critical is itself a process. In all but the most
advanced educational systems that is contrary to centuries of
established habit. Before a person can be effectively critical he needs
to believe that his opinions matter.
The process isn't helped when most of the education system we have in
this world frown upon any student below postgraduate level from making
any opinion whatsoever. How can we teach a person to be effectively
critical when everyone else is saying you can't have your own opinion
unless you have a PhD (or are working on one), all you can do is
summarize what others have said already.
KTC
--
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.
- Mark Twain