Do government schools tend to produce true "free-thinkers"?

Question

What is a "free-thinker"?

Answer 1

                                  "What is a "free-thinker"?

Free thinker is a label somebody attaches to themselves when they want to feel intellectually superior.

Answer 2

How many Americans go to govt. schools? I'm guessing maybe 95%.  Yet we have the fewest free-thinkers of any developed country.

A 'freethinker is just someone who thinks for himself.  I used to think it meant 'atheist' because Bertrand Russell called himself a freethinker and he was a famous atheist in his day.  But in my readings I've come across many Christians and others who call themselves freethinkers (like Thomas Jefferson for instance).

If you call yourself a freethinker, it means at least one thing.  That you are sober.  Because you would have trouble pronouncing the word after you've had a couple. 8^)

Answer 3

I do not think so.  This is not to say "free thinkers" cannot come out of public schools, it's just not what's going on there.

A free thinker is not afraid to be confronted with new ideas and slough through them to form one's own ideas and opinions.  This notion that atheists are free thinkers is laughable.  They will not challenge their ideas at all and they will not allow our children in public schools to even be exposed to other ideas.

Edit (Brian B):  I often deny there is such a thing as a "free thinker," because I think we all filter ideas through our world-views.  Nevertheless, I recognize that some of us are more willing than others to confront opposing thought and wade through it.

Answer 4

A free thinker is a person who forms their own opinions, beliefs, and values on the basis of their own experiences, instead of accepting standard, widely held beliefs simply on the basis of authority or conformity.

@ Leslie D: I don't need the term "free thinker" to feel intellectually superior. I AM intellectually superior.

@ Ruth: Of course, not ALL atheists are free thinkers. However, any argument that there does not EXIST a free-thinking atheist could be applied to theists as well. If you wish to dispense with the label "free thinker" completely, then that's OK too.

I am being educated in a public school, and I have to say that no, they do not tend to produce free-thinkers. By their very nature, they encourage conformity. However, there are some teachers in public schools who are free thinkers, and they can encourage their students to think freely as well. These teachers are rare and very special.

Also, private schools that exist for the sake of academic superiority (such as the University of Toronto Schools) do not necessarily promote free thinking either. Alternative education methods that encourage natural development, such as the Montessori system, are more successful.

@ It's That Guy - I couldn't agree with you more about the citizens of the glorious United States of America...

Answer 5

A freethinker typically does not conform to herd mentality and tends to be skeptical about extraordinary claims. I think government schools encourage herd mentality and do not produce a large number of freethinkers. By the same token, religious schools do not produce large numbers of them either. We are a rare breed.

Answer 6

To me, the term "free-thinker" means someone who thinks outside the box of orthodoxy.

I believe that public school system is more likely to produce free-thinkers than a private, religious school.  If for no reason other than the boundaries of religious orthodoxy that are maintained in the private, religious schools.