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University students are becoming like Donald Trump

Noztradamus

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http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...p/news-story/44d56cfe61f216ab81059a28511ec675

University students are not learning analytical thinking skills, becoming like Donald Trump

leaping to conclusions based on fake news and social media snippets — because they are not being taught critical thinking properly, a Flinders University expert says.
Dr Sandra Egege said her review of US and Australian research showed students were not picking up critical thinking skills in their studies, so universities needed to teach them more explicitly.
Dr Egege said university graduates had no better reasoning ability than high school graduates — particularly worrying given high schoolers were becoming less literate — and there was no difference across degree programs.
“We are so focused on teaching students the content of a subject that we are not giving them the skills to think logically and analytically about that subject,” she said.
“Students are in danger of thinking like (US President) Trump — they don’t think critically — they like to jump to conclusions based on fake news and opinion.
 
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...p/news-story/44d56cfe61f216ab81059a28511ec675

University students are not learning analytical thinking skills, becoming like Donald Trump


Uni students ‘thinking like Trump’

HOW is a uni student just like Donald Trump? A lot of them think in the same way as the US President, says a Flinders University
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A critical thinker would think twice about subscribing to The Advertiser just to read an article that may or may not display critical thinking.
 
Last edited:
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...p/news-story/44d56cfe61f216ab81059a28511ec675

University students are not learning analytical thinking skills, becoming like Donald Trump

A major drawback of many education systems is the emphasis on rote learning and memorization, not critical skills. They aren't becoming like Donald Trump, they aren't learning one of the skills he lacks that would set them apart.

Trump is a whole lot more than a person who lack analytical thinking skills. The title makes a useful clickbait though :)

McHrozni
 
The whole article is hilarious. Reading between the lines, it's clear and Australian universities have a serious quality problem that has nothing to do with Trump.

This signature is intended to irradiate people.
 
Durian Rider of 30 Bananas a Day fame lives in Adelaide. Just sayin' ...
 
Hardly new. This was the reason this this book was written and is now in its 4th edition. Very good book by the way.

The biggest difference between science classes in public schools and those at the university (decades ago) was that in the public school classes (with a few notable exceptions) they tended to just throw "facts" at me, whereas in university classes, they were quite careful to explain how the information was discovered. I don't know if this is still the case.
 
The biggest difference between science classes in public schools and those at the university (decades ago) was that in the public school classes (with a few notable exceptions) they tended to just throw "facts" at me, whereas in university classes, they were quite careful to explain how the information was discovered. I don't know if this is still the case.

Replying generally, by university or college it's too late - I want students taught critical thinking much earlier, as children in school. Of course, who wants to teach students that they shouldn't necessarily trust even the person who is teaching them not to trust everything they're told?

Replying to you specifically because I was reminded re science classes in university and honesty and skepticism and critical thinking/questioning, in university I had both physics labs and chemistry labs, with experiments in both. The experiments were basically to have us perform experiments to learn/confirm firsthand various known results. The problem was, the physics department expected you to get the results you were supposed to, and honestly reporting deviant results was an automatic failure. On one occasion laboratory equipment hadn't been calibrated properly (not something the students were responsible for), and some students (I think including me!) were honest enough to report the actual results rather than what some students did, altered results to obtain the expected conclusion. So they recalibrated the equipment and made everyone do the experiment again with the expectation they'd be reporting the correct results... aside from that situation, generally and not surprisingly many students felt pressured to at least scribble something about a correction factor re the raw data and then prominently have the expected so-called corrected data...

In chemistry by contrast, intellectual honesty was important. If you got weird results, you were expected to report them, and to try and explain the likely sources of error. If you had done the experiment, worked hard and recorded your data, and tried to explain why you got different results and had a well-written lab report, you would still get an A mark, because they recognized especially under student lab conditions with shared equipment and teamwork etc. you can't perform experiments dozens of times, you just have the once, and honest reporting was paramount. Not surprisingly I much preferred the profs and TAs in chemistry and had a certain amount of contempt for the physics department.
 
Replying generally, by university or college it's too late - I want students taught critical thinking much earlier, as children in school. Of course, who wants to teach students that they shouldn't necessarily trust even the person who is teaching them not to trust everything they're told?

There's a theory that actually, teaching critical thinking and mistrust of authority is what's causing the current political environment. Critical thinking has been taught at early levels in the West, for a couple of generations now, so there has been a declining opinion toward expertise. Thus: Trump, Brexit, &c.

Trump is not a great model of critical thinking, but he is certainly a champion of "don't trust so-called experts," which has been a core mantra for critical thinking infused curricula in the K-12 age brackets.
 
Well whatdya know?

I've always commented that critical thinking courses should be mandatory for middle and high school, perhaps replacing the foreign language thing that's required for many schools.
 
There's a theory that actually, teaching critical thinking and mistrust of authority is what's causing the current political environment. Critical thinking has been taught at early levels in the West, for a couple of generations now, so there has been a declining opinion toward expertise. Thus: Trump, Brexit, &c.

Trump is not a great model of critical thinking, but he is certainly a champion of "don't trust so-called experts," which has been a core mantra for critical thinking infused curricula in the K-12 age brackets.

Well whatdya know?

I've always commented that critical thinking courses should be mandatory for middle and high school, perhaps replacing the foreign language thing that's required for many schools.

I note anecdotally that teens and tweens are naturally critical thinkers. They spot hypocrisy in a heartbeat, for example. It may get somewhat beaten out of them by the dominant educational paradigm.

Developing such a course would be a bit like having a forensics team. I'm all for it. "Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason in Everyday Life" is a wonderful resource. I think a lot of kids would love it. Fortunately I'm now pretty well positioned to design and teach such a course. These kids are DTA - down to argue!
 
Of course, who wants to teach students that they shouldn't necessarily trust even the person who is teaching them not to trust everything they're told?
Wouldn't it rather be '… teach students how to make sure that what they're told is true'?! I don't think that most teachers would have a problem with that.
 
Trump is not a great model of critical thinking, but he is certainly a champion of "don't trust so-called experts," which has been a core mantra for critical thinking infused curricula in the K-12 age brackets.

Isn't it just a good example of the insufficiency of the principles of general trust as well as general distrust? (cf. ad hominem)
 
The biggest difference between science classes in public schools and those at the university (decades ago) was that in the public school classes (with a few notable exceptions) they tended to just throw "facts" at me, whereas in university classes, they were quite careful to explain how the information was discovered. I don't know if this is still the case.

I am very happy to be able to say that is NOT how it was taught in my public school when I was teaching Environmental Science, Physics and Chemistry (separate courses) a few years back!!!!
 
Well whatdya know?

I've always commented that critical thinking courses should be mandatory for middle and high school, perhaps replacing the foreign language thing that's required for many schools.

Many school systems with the foreign language thing have it because many colleges and universities look for such in the records of incoming students...........
 
The whole article is hilarious. Reading between the lines, it's clear and Australian universities have a serious quality problem that has nothing to do with Trump.

This signature is intended to irradiate people.

I dont think they do, but are perhaps being cautious.
 
Many school systems with the foreign language thing have it because many colleges and universities look for such in the records of incoming students...........

But not so many look for training in critical thinking.............:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp:jaw-dropp
 
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