Some College Students Really Do Learn Critical Thinking

In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call,  Professor David Clemens discusses the general failure to teach college students critical thinking — despite the fact that many schools trumpet that as one of their goals — and then explains how he gets his students to learn it. He gives them a capstone assignment that requires them to write a lengthy essay on the question whether Holocaust deniers should be included in the curriculum. That compels the students to analyze evidence and arguments as most have never had to do before.