I got to thinking about that cringey show Adam Ruins Everything. Apparently podcasts, talk shows, etc. have the host (Adam Conover) on sometimes to debate or discuss topics that are in the news or covered on the show like he's an expert, but he's just the 'face' of the show. A team of writers and producers just tell him what to say and he memorizes the lines and says them. Thinking that he is an expert on these subjects is like thinking Alex Trebek is smart because he always knows all the right answers on Jeopardy. The funny thing is though, there are people who think that about Alex Trebek, and it's precisely why he's the spokesperson for those companies that sell things like life insurance and identity theft protection to old people. Senior citizens have watched Jeopardy for years and they see him as an intelligent, trustworthy person because he always has the correct answers on the show. In this same way, back when I was still on Facebook, I'd see people on my friend list (almost all were millennials, as am I) share clips from Adam Ruins Everything in place of developing and conveying their own thoughts on a subject. (Another thing about that show is that they occasionally run episodes where they call out things "Adam" has gotten wrong in previous episodes. Personally I think it's likely they make minor errors on purpose so that they can come back and make those 'correction episodes' to give the illusion that they're not above checking themselves, but I digress).
For the past 30-40 years or so, schools have stressed the importance of teaching "critical thinking skills" and they've claimed to develop the curriculum with this goal in mind. It seems like the dominant narrative is that people of the boomer generation and older are more likely to blindly believe something because it's on TV, or to be less adept at "critical thinking", but is that really true? Has critical thinking education really helped?
For the past 30-40 years or so, schools have stressed the importance of teaching "critical thinking skills" and they've claimed to develop the curriculum with this goal in mind. It seems like the dominant narrative is that people of the boomer generation and older are more likely to blindly believe something because it's on TV, or to be less adept at "critical thinking", but is that really true? Has critical thinking education really helped?