I couldn’t agree more. I think school should focus much more on teaching children to think critically, to question, instead of simply believing some “authority”, because this skill is so extremely important for any democracy. It is really important to learn to read and question what you have read, to get a “sixth sense” that tells you how much the text can be trusted, and how much biased it probably is. I think that it is more important to grow this skills in children that simply teach them some arbitrary facts that may or may not be important for them.

But I think there are quite some problems:
- The people in charge (politicians, but also religious leaders and corporate bosses) may not really want that people have these skills, because probably they would lose some power, dumb or misinformed people are easier to deceive after all

- So many people don’t seem to _like_ to think critical and really understand, many seem to prefer being entertained instead of enlightened, it is more fun (or at least looks like it for many)

- Mass media focuses on making money, if the audience doesn’t get informed, only entertained, but the money is still made, many mass media makers won’t care (or not care enough)

P.S.: I live in Germany, but i have the impression that the situation isn’t any better in most other countries, probably even worse. Especially in the USA, it seems to me as if the (mass media) news channels focus increasingly more on entertainment, with realy reliable, objective news declining. A worrying trend …

I’m glad you realize now that if everything is left to the mainstream media (which is owned by big business), huge checks and balances will be lost. Please note how MSNBC covered the Microsoft antitrust case for an example of this.

Definitely question what you read, and what you hear. Always stay alert.