NEW OPINION: Parental involvement is vital to children developing critical thinking skills

Just last week, an associate professor wrote an opinion criticizing parental rights. Many parental rights and school choice advocates went after the opinion saying, “The child is not a mere creature of the state,” “They think they own your kids. Wake up, parents,” etc.

This prompted me to write an opinion in response to the professor’s piece. She suggested the community has a “collective” responsibility to ensure “children’s education is not determined by or dependent on the whims of a few,” and to prepare children to be “independent, free-thinking citizens in a world beyond their parents’ control and vision.”

She then said, “Public education that could enable independence has been a priority in our country since its very founding, as many of the founders recognized education’s valuable role in equipping people to navigate the complex challenges and competing interests that would face the commonwealth.”

In my opinion I replied, “While she is right that children need to be critical thinkers, it is important to note that the modern education system created in the 1800s was built to nearly stifle critical-thinking. Second of all, parents should cultivate critical thinking skills in their children.”

I went into detail about how the modern education system was created (Horace Mann and the Common School stifling thinking) and how schools, such as microschools are cultivating critical thinking.