The Truth of the Matter

Abstract

With the rise of state sponsored standardized testing and curriculum alignment, it is important to consider the impact such practices may have on educational aims. In this paper, I argue that critical thinking ought to be the principle aim in every educational pursuit, and that practices such as “teaching to the test” may be detrimental to its development. I maintain these claims with a discussion of the philosophical works of Harvey Siegel, Israel Scheffler, and John Dewey. Operating from their definitions of critical thinking, rationality, and education respectively, I offer support for my conclusion based on one’s ability to challenge the soundness of claims, and the revisional quality of true belief. The issue of critical thinking as general or subject specific is also addressed. Using Siegel’s notion of a critical spirit, I propose that a universal quality of critical thinking lies in its normative as opposed to technical aspects. In the introduction to Reason and Education, a collection of philosophical works in honor of Israel Scheffler, Harvey Siegel states that all significant philosophers of education have made lasting connections between philosophy of education and philosophy in general.2 Consequently, philosophers of education ought to 1 I would like to thank Professor Debra Nails and my colleagues, Ari Goldstein and Korey Hunri, for their valuable comments in the process of writing this paper, as well as acknowledge the help of Dominic Sawaya and Jeff Olenick, both of whom proofread this paper. 2 Harvey Siegel, ed., Reason and Education: Essays in Honor of Israel Scheffler (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997): 4.