Does Core Knowledge ignore the development of critical thinking skills?
Those who think that the only way to teach specific content is through rote memorization would be astonished to observe the many imaginative, resourceful, and creative ways that teachers in Core Knowledge schools have found to engage their students in active learning of important knowledge: through dramatizations, art projects, writing workshops, collaborative learning groups, research projects, etc. Yes, children may occasionally memorize a poem or the Preamble to the Constitution-but these are valid learning experiences, which, in fact, children enjoy, and from which they get a sense of pride and achievement. Behind the outcry against “rote memorization” lies a deep prejudice – a prejudice against fact. Many educators object to any curriculum that says, for example, that children should learn the seven continents, because that is “mere fact.” To teach facts, they say, is to reduce education to “Trivial Pursuit.” Granted, some facts are trivial. Who starred in “Car 54 Where Are You?”
