Do logic workbooks and critical thinking classes actually teach children to think critically?

When you consider the question from the context of a liberal arts education, the idea of critical thinking programs that target the elementary years lacks logic.

The truth of the matter is that young minds are too immature for learning the skills that critical thinking requires of them.

Furthermore, critical thinking is one part of the subject of traditional logic, traditional logic being the logic of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Under the liberal arts model, there is the understanding that a child’s mind is ready for certain subjects at specific times. Typically, a child would begin the study of traditional logic during the adolescent years and not a day before.

Today we see elementary schools touting “critical-thinking skills” as part of their curriculum, but, in a sense, it’s false advertising. A child’s mind isn’t ready to learn traditional logic during the elementary years. What a child should be studying is grammar.

Grammar is the prerequisite subject for traditional logic, yet, ironically, schools no longer teach much grammar. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a high-school graduate today who can parse a sentence or recite the eight parts of speech.

Once your child has a foundational grasp of grammar, then you want to think about introducing the subject of traditional logic.

A child who has reached puberty is developmentally ready to begin thinking more logically. Your child will begin to ask questions that require good reasoning skills and logic is ultimately the study of correct thinking.

Asking how the rain falls from the sky is a very different question from asking why the Russians defeated Napoleon in 1812. Your child sees the rain and he wants to know why it falls from the sky. You’ll give him a simple explanation and leave it at that.

But, when he’s older, he’s beginning to think in a more complex and abstract way.

He wants to know what the circumstances were that led to Napoleon’s defeat, and he wants to understand how much of the circumstances derived from the human element and how much from chance. What were all the factors at play and how did they come together to bring about his defeat?

Before the logic stage, the child thinks in more concrete terms of what he can experience through his senses. It’s not that a child isn’t thinking and trying to figure things out; it’s just a more concrete kind of thinking.

The kind we are being reduced to by technology and illiteracy.

But when he enters adolescence, he begins to think in the abstract making his mind perfectly primed for the study of traditional logic.

In elementary education, therefore, what your child needs is not critical thinking classes, but a thorough knowledge of how his language works. If fact, any school offering critical-thinking classes for the elementary grades does not have much of an understanding of how children learn or the subject of logic.

What a school should provide is a good grammar program which includes the parsing of sentences. In the concrete phase of learning, a child needs to be able to see how things work. Learning how to parse a sentence will give him a visual representation of how the words in the sentence fit together grammatically.  

Grammar studies usually finish around the time the logic stage kicks in. You can see how the liberal arts tradition is timed perfectly, so the child receives what he needs, when he needs it.

What you want for your younger children (but not too young) is not critical thinking workbooks (though some children may enjoy them and that’s fine)  but a firm foundation in the study of grammar. You want them to understand the rules and structure of their language.

This will give them a solid foundation for studying logic.

Besides the study of grammar, you want to protect your child’s love of learning when he’s younger.

Children naturally ask lots of questions. It’s an insatiable curiosity that’s behind their questions; this is what you want to guard. You want your child to question things. You want him to think about things. And he’ll do this naturally if you allow him the time and space he needs to explore the world around him.

Protect your child’s curiosity, nurture his love of learning; teach him grammar (preferably Latin too); and when he’s older, you can introduce the study of logic.

In the meantime, you are welcome to our free download:

12 Reasons Why Knowing Traditional Logic is Vital to a Life Well-Lived.

To learn to think critically, argue critically, write critically, and listen critically; we need to learn traditional logic.

Critically-thinking people are dangerous because they can’t be manipulated and controlled; therefore, let’s raise dangerous kids!

Download 12 Reasons Why Knowing Traditional Logic is Vital to a Life Well-Lived.

Become a Smart Homeschooler to raise smart, ethical, and critically-thinking children. Join the Smart Homeschooler Academy online course and feel secure knowing that you have what you need to homeschool successfully.

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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and a Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach with 20+ years of experience working in children’s education.

Utilizing her unusual skill set, coupled with her unique combination of mentors, Elizabeth has developed a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child. She devotes her time to helping parents get it right.

☞ Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.