If Philosophy was taught in high school, would people be able to think more critically or just confused?
While philosophy does indeed encourage and teach critical thinking, it is not the only thing that does, nor would it be a be-all end-all subject. The problem of a lack of critical thinking in high school students these days does not lie squarely on the backs of teachers and students, but more on that of lazy administrators, ignorant parents, and grandstanding politicians and school board members. Simply teaching social studies as the study of societal change instead of the rote memorization of names and dates would go a long way to encourage critical thinking, and it would probably be easier than teaching something difficult such as philosophy. But that is not likely to happen. Even before programs like No Child Left Behind, school administrative culture was pushing teachers ever harder into teaching their students to pass standardized tests and little more in an effort to artificially make the school look like a paragon of education even while student knowledge and skill in subjects t
