ABSTRACT
The practice of critical thinking (CT) becomes the necessary element in education to ward off the impact of George Orwellian 'doublespeak' and the 'mind-control' effects of the mass media. To CT people, much of what they see, hear and read can become, at a minimum, suspect, requiring further investigation. Because of the absence of CT instruction in the schools, children have no idea that they are constantly being 'colonized' by questionable ideas and, in many cases, outright false information. There is still a concerted effort on the part of organized education not to make CT part of the curriculum. Without some knowledge of the principles of CT, students' minds are ripe for the picking by the nonsense perpetuated by the corporate media and by those educational systems that espouse myopic and reactionary platitudes. The propaganda machine in the US is the best oiled in the world and takes its toll on the children every day.
