Inculcating thinking skills in the young mind

Uma Krishna

“In our evolving world, the ability to think is fast becoming more desirable than any fixed set of skills or knowledge. We need problem-solvers, decisionmakers and innovators. And to produce them, we need new ways to teach and learn. We need to prepare our children for their future, not for our past.”
– Mike Fleetham

girl In this age of information overload, are we developing our kids into knowledge punters or knowledge initiators? The question arises because what are supposed to be knowledge imparting institutions are becoming profit-making industries, marketing in every potential line of attack. As a result, the child’s intelligence is measured based on marks and grades, without attention to the child’s logical, critical, and applied thinking efficiency. In today’s world there is an absolute need to inculcate information – processing skills rather than stuffing children’s cranium with data and facts.

By developing thinking skills children learn to process information allowing them to retain what they wish to memorize and discard what is not essential. Therefore, modification of previously acquired and accepted knowledge becomes a requisite. Further, with the pace at which change and growth is happening, equipping children with just a pool of knowledge, seems to be inadequate. Therefore, it is essential to inculcate right thinking in the young minds of the kids.

The author is an educator and freelance writer and can be reached at drumakrishna@gmail.com.

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