“There you go again…”
Will somebody please invite Alfie Kohn to a Core Knowledge school? Kohn responds to today’s USA Today editorial praising Core Knowledge with the usual clichés and misunderstandings: It’s a “list of facts,” rote memorization, it’s at the expense of critical thinking, etc. As Elvis Costello once sang, “I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.”
I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me how exactly critical thinking works as a skill, divorced from content knowledge. Some years ago, I sat through a social studies professional development workshop, with the theme “No more trivial pursuit!” The particulars of The War of 1812 and the Vietnam War didn’t matter, the trainer insisted, as much as the students’ ability to grapple with essential questions, such as “Is war ever justified?” How exactly can you form a credible opinion about all wars without understanding the causes of a particular war? That was never explained, naturally.
A foolish example? It’s no more silly than the estimable Mr. Kohn dismissing Core Knowledge classrooms as “organized around a ‘bunch o’ facts.’” Critical thinking without content knowledge is like playing tennis without a net. It can be done, but not very well. And certainly not at a high level.
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