4 ms·

Healthy skepticism is not only easy to teach but easy to drill, and yet I remember no time in my early education that it was even a topic in class, except maybe

by gralx 6y ago

Healthy skepticism is not only easy to teach but easy to drill, and yet I remember no time in my early education that it was even a topic in class, except maybe tangentially - a short story theme, a blurb about a famous scientist or inventor. I doubt that has changed.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
In California at least, skeptical analysis is in the curriculum from sixth grade onwards. I was under the impression it was there in all states, although I could be mistaken.
- gralx 6y ago
  Now that's interesting. There's a delay between when a curriculum stream is adopted and when its students start participating in civic affairs. My understanding (unconfirmed) is that participation in Twitter and Facebook is dominated by older age groups who may not have learned that material. How long since this curriculum was adopted state-wide in California? And what's it officially called? I couldn't find any information about it when I searched for "skeptical analysis" on the California Dept of Education website.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    It's officially called "expository critique" in the oldest document I'm familiar with (https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pdf https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pd...), but I don't know if it was there before 1997 or not. More recent standards e.g. (https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstanda...) don't appear to use a specific term for it, but they still include things like "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text" and "identify false statements and fallacious reasoning".
tatersolid 6y ago
My high school in Indiana in the 1990s taught skepticism; there were two required classes called “citizen’s government” and “social criticism”. We watched Dr. Strangelove in Social Crit and had a two-hour discussion following. It was awesome.

by gralx 6y ago

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

In California at least, skeptical analysis is in the curriculum from sixth grade onwards. I was under the impression it was there in all states, although I could be mistaken.

gralx 6y ago
Now that's interesting. There's a delay between when a curriculum stream is adopted and when its students start participating in civic affairs. My understanding (unconfirmed) is that participation in Twitter and Facebook is dominated by older age groups who may not have learned that material. How long since this curriculum was adopted state-wide in California? And what's it officially called? I couldn't find any information about it when I searched for "skeptical analysis" on the California Dept of Education website.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  It's officially called "expository critique" in the oldest document I'm familiar with (https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pdf https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pd...), but I don't know if it was there before 1997 or not. More recent standards e.g. (https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstanda...) don't appear to use a specific term for it, but they still include things like "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text" and "identify false statements and fallacious reasoning".

tatersolid 6y ago

My high school in Indiana in the 1990s taught skepticism; there were two required classes called “citizen’s government” and “social criticism”. We watched Dr. Strangelove in Social Crit and had a two-hour discussion following. It was awesome.