The Prospects for Classroom Thoughtfulness in High School Social Studies

Can American high schools teach students to think, to use their minds to solve complex problems? Or, are American schools destined to follow the familiar path of passing on numerous fragmented bits of information that students memorize, but soon forget? In spite of persistent injunctions that American schools ought to teach reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking and creative use of the mind, many studies confirm the conspicuous absence of attention to these goals in classrooms.