Reply #50: When I taught, that was a huge part of my curriculum.

[knitter4democracy]

English teachers teach reading, writing, thinking, and dreaming, as Sharon Draper says. That was my job.

Essay writing was a huge part of the curriculum in the schools I taught in. Every essay is at least slightly persuasive (you're trying to persuade the reader you're right about whatever you're writing about), and the best way to persuade is to make a claim, follow it up with evidence, and then explain how the evidence backs up the claim. People listen to evidence, especially if it's explained to them.

You can teach critical thought in any subject. In math, you make them write out their thinking process step-by-step. In science, you make them write up lab reports and write out what their evidence is and why it proves the hypothesis. In history classes, you make them write essays with at least three good sources. Learning a foreign language is an act of critical thought itself, so I think it should be required of every student, regardless of track.

Critical thinking skills are in every state mandated curriculum I've ever seen. It's more than possible to teach it.