Teaching Critical Thinking in Thailand [Season 3, Episode 14]

In a culture where most people have seen ghosts, visit fortune tellers, and where questioning authority is kind of, sort of, not really cool, critical thinking may seem like a foreign concept. However, we happen to have an expert on hand - our own Ed “The Truth” Knuth, who teaches a critical thinking class as part of his university course.

On the surface, it may seem that Thais are worse at thinking critically than westerners, but Ed explains that (at least in his opinion), it really depends on what people think about. If Thais are good at math and engineering, that means they have the faculties to think critically. Greg points out that the issue is fraught with cultural obstacles, such as the need to constantly respect authority. This is undoubtedly true, but Ed tells a few stories about how enthusiastically his students jump into his course, starting with a discussion about bigfoot and ending with a critical analyses of the fortunes that each student got done at the beginning of the semester. So the seed is planted...but even Ed can’t hazard a guess as to how much of these skills stick around after the semester is over.  

The boys also get to Love, Loathe, or Leave, discussing those...pantaloon...diaper...things that are part of the traditional Thai outfit. We’re not ruining anything by saying neither Greg nor Ed look good in these - but what do they think of them when not wrapped in silky goodness?

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