EDUCATION AS THINKING SKILLS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MORAL DECADENCE AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Résumé

This article titled “Education as Thinking Skills: Implications for Moral Decadence among Nigerian Youths in the 21st century, envisioned a pedagogy that could apprehend and mitigate the nauseating rate of moral decadence among Nigerian youths. Employing the methods of critical analysis and evaluation, this exposition maintains that teaching thinking skills as a subject should be introduced and taught at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. Under the pedagogy some of the unwholesome, and immoral practices by youths that have the capacity of undermining our moral fabrics could be collaboratively and rationally interrogated by the teacher and the pupils/students. Within such engagements, the pupils or students may construct logical meanings, justify their thoughts and actions with logical arguments as against reliance on society, and/or peer influence. The aim being to glean the immediate, medium and long term implications of indulgence in unsavory actions. This is against the pedagogy of telling the child actions that are blameworthy or praiseworthy as such could only make them passive recipients. It is the position of this article that, teaching pupils/students thinking skills could gagg their propensity to perform unwholesome and immoral actions while predisposing them to indulge in actions that are reasonable, rational and in congruent with the once cherished African/Nigerian moral values.