One of my objections to some of the current ideas of teaching in the Los Angeles school district is the focus on critical thinking.
My friends you CANNOT think critically about something without any knowledge of it or the facts about it. You cannot think critically about whether 2+2 = 4 or 5 until you learn what addition means and what 2 is and how much 5 is. There are some schools in Los Angeles where there is no focus on facts before a (desire for/focus on) critical thinking.
You CANNOT think critically about chemical pesticides unless you know something of the facts about them.
If you only have facts from one side … If the research required for obtaining facts is only funded from one side– there CANNOT be a fair and CRITICAL discussion about any potential dangers of widespread pesticide use.
If data suggesting a link with something and say autism is suppressed and vilified and the surgeon who publishes it has of all things his license to practice surgery taken — and what a surgical license has to do with research on immunization is so beyond me it is in the next galactic quadrant. — that is not a fair and critical discussion.
If tobacco companies fund “research” that only has the purpose to show no link between cigarettes and lung cancer and to muddy the water — that is not contributing to a fair and CRITICAL discussion.
Learn about pesticide use and then decide.
