I have to question whether critical thinking skills are really that important. Truly critcal people are labelled as trouble makers who have issues with authority. People who are obedient, who can play the political game, tend to do much better.

This is obviously true in law and politics, and certainly other professions like engineering. But what surprises people is that it's also true within academia - if you don't conform, you don't get tenure.

The people who are successful often come from higher income households where children are made to attend numerous extra-curricular activities so as to give them an early exposure to "gaming" the political structure of a hierarchical organisation.