The Educated Mind

Education is learning to think, not what to think. Good education is thinking about the tough problems and then solving them, which requires certain tools. The most important of those tools is language. If we want students to develop the kind of mind that can create rather than just replicate, there is no substitute for teaching them how language works; how it builds up mental models of how things are in the world and how they may change. It's not just reading and writing that matter; it's knowing how to read critically and write effectively too.