Reasoning skills are something that one learns over a period of time. They are not something that can be forced upon someone. Primary school is a place to learn the basics of different subjects. The school system is already trying to push so much knowledge and curriculum onto children it is mind blowing. Primary schools have change drastically over the last couple of decades. Children nowadays are learning things that I learned in junior high school, and I am not even twenty yet. “It is strange that we expect students to learn, yet seldom teach them anything about learning." Donald Norman, 1980. I believe that critical thinking skills along with reasoning skills should be taught early on, that way they can start to develop these skills throughout their education.
Children are being forced to learn a multitude of information in such a short period of time. My mother is a special education teacher for elementary students in California and it is amazing how many practical skills these children do not have, let alone even know anything about. They do not understand how the choices and decisions they make greatly influence who they are as a person. This link goes more in depth why children should be taught critical thinking skills, http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html.
There are many different ways that critical thinking and reasoning could be taught in primary school. Teaching them these valuable skills early on will better prepare them for life and problems later on in their lives. Dr. Bangdiwala, from University of North Carolina, studied different ways that it could be integrated into the school systems through this article, http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/7/Bangdiwala.pdf.
I could understand why some would not want primary schools teaching reasoning and critical skills. That is would take away from the regular curriculum that they need to be taught. This should however, be part of the regular curriculum. It should because it would help the students with the other subjects as well. They would be able to understand things better and be able to question things if they were unsure. It could also be seen that it should be taught in a higher grade level. Why wait though, children are being taught algebra and chemistry so adding critical thinking into lessons would not be a big deal.
I am just learning about critical thinking and reasoning through this course. I was never taught this in primary or secondary school. If I had I would have been more prepared for this course. I think that it should be taught so children can be able to understand things and question things around them as they mature and develop. They are great and very useful skills that everyone should have in life.
