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Skillset and course of study for Reason

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NotCrazyDan

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Recently my sister in law's daughter in law (yeah i know complicated) moved in with us from an abusive drug an alcohol infested craphole in kickass trailerpark Mississippi. She didn't have time to enroll in the local school, so I felt it appropriate to supplement her online learning with my own course of study on how to think. One of the most crucial tools that people lack going into college and even after they graduate college, is being able to think logically, avoiding the pitfalls of, and being able to spot, logical fallacies, and being aware of when their own emotions and preconceived notions are clouding their ability to make judgments. Going through school without being able to spot BS is like going into combat with no body armor. It's dangerous.

I quickly realized that many of the background skills that you and I take for granted are absolutely essential to teaching any method of critical thinking. My question to people on this board, is how to take a person of substandard education and ingrain proper methods of thought into them without burning them out. I guess what I'm asking for is a course of study that's geared towards a teenager of humble origins.

EDIT: This may not be the right board for this question. If I put this thread in the wrong place, please move it to where it belongs.

Edited by NotCrazyDan
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As they say, you can lead a horse to water...

The most important question is does the kid want to learn? If so then I would start with some easy lessons in logical thinking.

* I'm not a teacher, but I have taught. The saving grace being that most of the student were well, motivated. Say what you want about the military system, it certainly focuses the mind when required. :)

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As they say, you can lead a horse to water...

The most important question is does the kid want to learn? If so then I would start with some easy lessons in logical thinking.

* I'm not a teacher, but I have taught. The saving grace being that most of the student were well, motivated. Say what you want about the military system, it certainly focuses the mind when required. :)

Yes I've been in the US Army for 12 years now so I know what you mean. Like most 14 year olds, she's not interested in anything that causes her to do more work, and since she's 14, I'm not really interested in her not being interested. I don't want to crush her, I'll let her take baby steps, but many of the skills we've accumulated have been the result of someone looming over us with the proverbial .44 and a shovel. I consider critical reasoning skills to be critical, and thus they're not optional to any minor that I'm responsible for. Poor her. :)

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Fair enough, and for what it's worth I was her at the age of 14.

The thing my family did en mass was argue at the supper table. I'm not talking about bitching and complaining I'm talking "solve the problems of the world" kind of argumentation. It taught me how to make my thoughts coherent to others and it taught me how to dissect the thoughts of others.

Effective, and fun... as long as no one makes it personal.

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Your job is difficult because a lot of kids establish comfortable patterns of how to respond to learning, logic, etc., by that age. The old jesuit saying of "give me a child for his first seven years and I will give you the man" isn't too far off the mark. Human beings have free will, of course, but the encouraging and tolerance of vice in anyone, let alone someone at such a delicate stage of development, will get a whole lot of people to consider those vices practical.

As for positive advice...when I was 14, I was driven, just not in school or most of the normal subjects. Perhaps it would be best to find out what her passion is and show her how proper thinking methods, the reality-first approach, etc., will help her with that passion.

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  • 1 month later...

It's not easy, but the best way is to talk to her about things, and to lead by example. Casually read news, science, cultural articles to her and then analyze them. If you have fun talking to her, your thinking will rub off on her in more ways then you'll ever realize. I hope it all works out.

WARNING: DO NOT ATTACK HER IDEAS OR YOU'LL LOSE HER.

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