If the habit of thinking critically became widespread in a society, it would prevail everywhere, since it is a way of dealing with life's problems.
The glowing words of any orator would not cause panic in people educated in this way.
They take time to believe and are capable, without difficulty and without the need for certainty, of holding things to be probable to varying degrees.
They can wait for the facts, then weigh them up without ever allowing themselves to be influenced by the emphasis or confidence with which proposals are put forward by one party or another.
They can resist those who appeal to their deepest prejudices or who use flattery.
Education in this critical capacity is the only education that can be said to produce good citizens.
If the habit of thinking critically became widespread in a society, it would prevail everywhere, since it is a way of dealing with life's problems.
The glowing words of any orator would not cause panic in people educated in this way.
They take time to believe and are capable, without difficulty and without the need for certainty, of holding things to be probable to varying degrees.
They can wait for the facts, then weigh them up without ever allowing themselves to be influenced by the emphasis or confidence with which proposals are put forward by one party or another.
They can resist those who appeal to their deepest prejudices or who use flattery.
Education in this critical capacity is the only education that can be said to produce good citizens.
William Graham Sumner