Free Thinking In Children Is Bad?

[HeaMsoRb]

Why do kids get punished and called smart alecks for critical thinking and challenging the status quo? I think this is anti-intellectualism.

[Mamyalynne]

You may need to flesh out that question a little, in what way are these children punished for questioning and where is this happening?

[jackthehat]

///Free Thinking In Children Is Bad?///

Who has said this?

[maggiebee]

Some adults feel threatened by well educated, articulate children. Sad, but there it is.

[HeaMsoRb]

@Mamyalynne Kids who question authority or apply critical thinking usually get remarks like “Stop being a smart-mouthed stupid little brat! You know nothing!”(this is paraphrased heavily from what they usually say, but you get my point) from parents and then get harshly punished, from my experience.

[Stickybottle]

If this is about Greta I totally agree
Nobody likes to hear the truth from a person who is better informed and educated than they are but especially politicians and world figures who are tasked with solving problems but are failing dismally

Funny how Malala stood up to authority and got herself educated and is lauded and revered

Greta does the same and is pilloried

[bobbinwales]

The difference is stickybottle that Greta is focused on one thing only and has not been fully educated in the sense that some politicians have done postgraduate qualifications etc, where as world politicians have to balance a wide range of issues like jobs, financial security, provision of services at a cost, education, trade, war and peace alongside the important enviroment issues.
But actually I very much doubt the OP is about Greta

[roadman]

because its easy for teachers to gain control over kids and the class by punishing rather than rewarding it is actually a reflection on our education system its more free child care than a learning environment for this reason

[Stickybottle]

bobbinwales
None of those things matter if we do not have a planet on which to implement them
Most politicians are self serving
If they had postgraduate qualifications that you claim they are not putting them to a cause that will save and preserve the planet

[naomi24]

Greta is well-intentioned but naive. I don’t think the OP is talking about her though.

[bobbinwales]

//If they had postgraduate qualifications that you claim they are not putting them to a cause that will save and preserve the planet//

If like Greta that was there only focus yes they could stop all fuel production/sales now, ban all plastics and travel and let us grind to a halt and live in the dark if thats a good future in your book, but no one would be elected on that agenda

[Mamyalynne]

HeaMsoRb, I can imagine your disappoint in thise approaches by adults when the young ask challenging questions - it hasn't been my experience and I think it speaks more about the adult than the young person.

Often there may be a wrong time and place for a challenge, but a calmly worded response to arrange a better time is preferable than an attempt to close them down totally.

[Mamyalynne]

* these approaches

[fender62]

off topic sort of, but has greta had any education, seems she just spouts off observation..

[Stickybottle]

fender62
off topic sort of, but has greta had any education, seems she just spouts off observation


I know it is from Wiki but she sounds educated to me;

Thunberg was a pupil at Franska Skolan, a private school in central Stockholm, from 2010 to 2018,[33][34] after which she transferred to Kringlaskolan, a school in Södertälje.[35] In 2019 she completed the 9th grade (the completion of lower secondary education in Sweden) with excellent grades, 14 As, and Bs in three subjects:[36] Swedish, home economics and physical education.[37]

The wiki write up too is in total contrast to those who say she is a puppet of her parents but I guess when people do not actually research a subject it is easy to dismiss her

[sevenOP]

Free Thinking, kids , critical thinking and anti-intellectualism, probably mean very different things to each individual.

Children will be the inheritors of this world, and educational advantage can be bought, influenced by parents and peers, and also the environment kids (age 3-16/18???) are brought up in.

Never has a worldwide generation of kids been educated optimally, hence the shameful state of our planet.
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