Public education lacks critical thinking

In yesterday's article, I briefly mentioned the need for fundamental education reform.  I would like to discuss this in greater detail today. 

I primary problem in our public school system is that critical thinking skills are not taught.  Rather, what is considered learning today is actually memorization.  In my experience as a math tutor during college, I was astounded by the the number of students who could not add, subtract, multiply, or divide without a calculator.  The problem here is not that they are "bad at math" as they so often claimed, but rather than they do not understand why math works as it does.  They have been taught for twelve years the answers to problems, but not why those answers are what they are.  They have no understanding about the underlying logic.  This problem extends to other subjects as well.  In history students are taught to memorize dates, in geography they memorize countries, in science they memorize formulas, and in English they memorize spelling and grammar rules.  In each case, students are equipped with the ability to answer questions on a test, but not to apply what they have learned to other related situations.  In addition, memorization is temporary and quickly forgotten following a test, whereas understanding is permanent.  Our current system proverbially gives students fish (that is facts, information, and knowledge), but does not teach them how to fish, so that they can eat (or learn) for a lifetime. 

I propose that the state legislature should institute a critical thinking curriculum in Massachusetts, backed by a reformed MCAS which is designed to require students to critically analyze and deduce answers to things they have not been taught based on what they have.  I believe the best way to institute understanding, rather than memorization is to replace the lecture-style format of the classroom with a discussion format and to replace worksheets with writing assignments.  Although some may argue that this would be impossible within elementary school classrooms, I believe that the naturally knowledge-adsorbing brains of the young could handle and even enjoy such a reformed curriculum, as long as the discussions and writing topics were kept simple enough for them to grasp.  The social studies, science, and reading curriculum could be used as foundations for the writing assignments and discussion.  I would also propose the elimination of times table memorization to be replaced with models that allow children to understand the application of the basic operations in real life.  Finally, I believe elementary education needs to be intertwined with geography lessons.  Rather than memorization of country locations as is done now, teachers should make a point of noting the location of countries when brought up in class so that they will be remembered based on association, instead of repetition.  These reforms should be carried over into middle school and high school, except with ever increasing expectations and attention to detail.  High School should also include a wider range of electives (taught in the same format discussed above) so as to prepare students for selecting of major that interests them. 

I would again like to ask for comments on my suggestions for an improved education system, so that I can refine its details and thus improve its effectiveness in teaching children to fish and to eat for a lifetime.