Indoctrination Vs Critical Thinking

"Water to wine, walking on water, flaming chariot rising to heaven, giant fish eating a man and spitting him out after he learns his lesson–these all require no small amount of faith to accept, and solid, swift indoctrination kick-starts the young’uns. (When I was young we colored pictures and sang songs and used those funky felt boards--remember them--to memorize stories we knew nothing about.) Teach faith if you must but leave it out of the school. Or could it be that those who want us to replace critical thinking with church dogma are concerned (insecure) that their faith won’t stand up to scutiny? What does that say about their faith? Then again, maybe that’s the whole point." (link) 

"Repetitive learning – where students simply chant responses – is a popular form of indoctrination. It can be a useful way to commit information to memory, such as the alphabet or our multiplication tables, but it also can be used to impose political or religious doctrine and overwhelm critical thinking. In this circumstance, it is a form of manipulation." (link)

"The opposite of closed-mindedness is not a postmodern void in which there’s no such thing as truth. No, the opposite of closed-mindedness is open-mindedness — in which we seek the truth yet recognize that we could be wrong.

"Emphasizing open-mindedness and intellectual humility can help ensure you won’t indoctrinate students, even on subjects you feel strongly about. Of course, you have political views, and students know that. You can tell your students, as I do mine, that you will work to ensure that your views do not influence your evaluation of their progress in the course." (link)