The children in my elementary school classes were curious and asked questions. In a biology lesson in which some sort of beetles were raised from larva, every student was -fascinated-. These same students, three years later (discontinuity after that point - I changed school districts), were bored speechless by dissections, and wouldn't even answer questions, much less ask them, in lessons.
It was a lot more obvious to me, because I typically dropped out of public education less than halfway through the year, bored. So the changes weren't slow and subtle - I'd come back with the new school year, and the students would be noticeably more apathetic.
I don't know for certain that the apathy translated into reduced critical thinking skills, but certainly they weren't using them in the lessons anymore.
So there was a change over time, but that doesn't establish that school was the cause. It doesn't even show a correlation as compared with different styles of education.
As a teacher, I wonder if it is possible to instill this skill into students the skills of rationality and critical thinking. I teach the third grade, and it is not immediately apparent how to apply this with my own class.
The problems I foresee are as follows:
In the sequences, it is suggested teachers should drill into students words don't count, only anticipation-controllers. How practical is this for an elementary school level? Also appreciated would be any ideas or experiences on how to do this, or how to combat the above problems. Hearing from other teachers would be excellent especially.