One of the main aims of education is to train the student in the art of critical thinking. As shown by some of the letters in this column, many ex-students have not excelled in this crucially important art.
An Oct. 1 letter writer noted: "Achievements need to be praised, not criminalized by those who say, 'You didn't build that.'" The writer has missed the whole point of the quotation. If he had spent a few minutes googling "Obama" "you didn't build that," he would have discovered the whole quotation. President Barack Obama was talking about all the help a business person had in building his business: good teachers, the Internet, roads and bridges, etc. And, no, the business person surely did not build all of that.
The opposition party took "you didn't build that" completely out of context and spread it across the media to influence gullible people.
Please, folks, make use of Google. Will you recognize spin when you see it? If not, you might Google "spin" as well. Using Google, you might get up to speed on critical thinking, which is so important to an informed electorate.
Peggy Jayne
Makawao
