Should we question everything?
I am doing my own research–a lot of people say these days. In school, sometimes we are taught to be skeptical about anything and everything and not take things for granted. Of course, the contrary which is believing anything and everything we are told is not a good strategy either.
Well, I am not really sure what doing my own research means. However, I will say that scrolling the phone on the toilet is probably not what it means to do your own research. Overall, in the last few years, the people who do their own research have rejected (or highly questioned) vaccines (particularly the ones for Covid), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), established medicine, and a presidential election. Yes, there are questions regarding some of those issues, but to think that by doing your own research you can know better than an established body of professionals is hard to believe.
Having said that, yes–children must be taught about critical thinking in schools and at home. However, it’s not just about questioning everything and everybody, but about how people can make sense of the available evidence for a given claim.