Petition Lessons in critical thinking should be made compulsory teaching in all UK secondary schools.

It is far more powerful to teach someone how to think, rather than what to think. Critical thinking teaches valuable life skills and encourages people to have an open mind, to raise questions and to research information for themselves. It improves a person’s ability to think logically and rationally, as well as improving decision making abilities.

It is important that the next generation of citizens are taught the tools with which to assess the world objectively in an age of information. Without such teaching, it is easy to develop a biased, prejudiced and distorted worldview where television, newspapers and the internet provide a constant barrage of conflicting information.

The undersigned propose that the Department for Education should instill compulsory and regular lessons in secondary schools, dedicated to the teaching of critical thinking.