“Unless you are going to apply for a position as a history teacher (and that’s fine, the world does need history teachers), what’s the point?”

Sorry you missed this when you read my post the first time.

(And by your survey results, I would say we aren’t doing too good even *with* history teachers.)

And you point out one of the fundamental conflicts in education today, at all levels: the conflict between teaching *what* to think (body of knowledge and skillset, as you put it) and *how* to think (critical thinking). There is not enough time to teach it all to the extent we’d like to, and I’d also point out that many in academia have a warped sense of what constitutes critical thinking.

I can’t help but point out some irony between this article and your post about liberals lack of critical thinking. Education today definitely does not teach critical thinking as much as we might like. However for a degree in healthcare for example, students need to learn a specific body of information and a skillset to be able to pass a board exam and get a job.

There is little time to critically think about current knowledge nor is it recommended because the board exams are often outdated anyway. Critical thinking would benefit everyone in the working world, but those students who think critically might not pass the tests to enter.

Degrees in liberal arts may seem like fluff to some, but people can learn to think critically anywhere. And I’d be willing to bet that most liberal arts majors who have learned to think critically are able to find jobs, even in this economy.