<p>As an educator, I have encountered many students who appear incapable of critically evaluating material. The result is that they are unable to think issues through and arrive at a logical conclusion. I feel student’s don’t have the necessary critical thinking skills (as the dictionary defines them) “to determine, resolve, work out, etc. by reasoning; to use the mind for arriving at conclusions, making decisions; drawing inferences.” The lack of critical thinking skills is evident early in the year, and as I teach the lessons contained in the curriculum, I realize that many children’s skills are not likely to improve. I question whether the previous teacher has prepared the students and know that the following September the teacher who receives these students will ask the same question. In trying to address this problem which I have encountered in the classroom, I am caught in the dilemma of whether to met the needs of my students as I seen them or to teach the curriculum as prescribed by the administration. My practice, and the practice of most teachers, has been to emphasize the latter.</p>