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Does college actually measurably teach critical thinking? How is that measured?

Are sociology majors measurably better at critical thinking than plumbers?

I kind of suspect a significant portion of the "college teaches critical thinking" meme is just something college educated people say to feel superior.

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Sociology teaches the sociological imagination, which is specifically a form of critical thinking. This isn't something people tend to just pick up on without higher education

The problem would be separating correlation and causation. It’s obvious that higher education is correlated with critical thinking (uneducated adults are far more likely to deny climate change or believe in pizzagate etc)

But maybe this isn’t causality, maybe people with better critical thinking are going to be more attracted to college

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