Even after so many years, it still stumps me to realize that there are people who actually hang around to see what their political party’s leader will say about an issue before declaring their own position.  I’m not going into the spring hunting thing again because that is done and dusted.

However, I believe we need to learn from it. If we are not going to look into the implications of the considerable influence which is still being exerted by politicians on many people’s minds then we are doomed to perpetuate this happening again and again.  I am still struggling to understand how someone can be steered into voting one way or another just because the “leader” has announced his own intentions.  It makes me wonder: do people who are so easily moulded send a quick text or an email to Muscat or Busuttil asking whether they should go to the bathroom? I know I’ve reduced it to simplistic, absurd terms, but in my view, that’s what it amounts to.

How can you not come up with your own opinion? How can you not come to a conclusion by yourself on how you feel on an issue unless someone decides the matter for you?   After mulling this over for a few days I think it always comes back to a lack of formative training in schools which should be teaching children how to think.  Our educational system is excellent in so many ways when it comes to academic achievements but I’m afraid it is still lagging far behind when it comes to holistic subjects such as debates. 

Maybe the string of ‘O’ levels which so many students manage to rack up by the end of Form 5,  has come at the expense of critical thinking which encourages them to criticize and argue a point even if that means going against the grain.

And that’s another thing: in our society, many are deliberately groomed from childhood (especially at home) to NOT go against the grain. Don’t rock the boat, don’t stick your neck out, let other people do it;  just go with the flow because you never know what or who you might need.  I have seen this reasoning even at university level: just regurgitate what the lecturer says and you will be fine and pass with flying colours. But don’t you dare come up with some original thought which defies his carefully constructed lecture notes.  Just give him what he wants, and you’ll pass that unit and chalk up another credit.  It was like that in my day anyway…has it changed at all, I wonder?

A few teachers have told me that while they do try to stimulate this kind of critical thinking in their classroom with discussions, they are restricted by time limitations because there is a vast syllabus to get through.  Fair enough, that’s understandable. But that is precisely why I feel some kind of debating society needs to be set up in schools (including Sixth Form and University) which could be incorporated within English/Maltese lessons, to promote the use of language as an effective communications tool. 

Let’s teach students to argue the point of an argument; let’s teach them that it is very possible to agree to disagree without resorting to personal insults (unlike so many adults). Let’s teach them to research the facts, base their argumentation on solid foundations, back up their theories with concrete evidence and not just grab any old example out of thin air which as we say in Maltese, “mghandu x’jaqsam xejn” (has nothing to do with it).   

Debating will also  help them to be more articulate and verbalise coherent arguments rather then, “heqq, u iva, mhux xorta, x’jimpurtani” (yeah, whatever, who cares, I’m not bothered). Even if just a handful of children learn something from debating it will already be progress.

Above all it is really time we educated people to think for themselves and not just parrot what they hear others say.  That, ultimately, can only be taught by encouraging more reading and doing one’s on research into an issue.  And if that sounds just too boring and too much of an effort, well then we can only expect to have yet another generation which just checks in with what the Leader says, rather than making up their mind on an issue by themselves.