<p>How depressing!</p>
<p>When my D was in grade school I got trained to be a volunteer moderator in a program called "Great Books." Kids read classic short stories, fairy tales, "Just So" stories, and discussed them in small groups. </p>
<p>The whole point of the program training was to teach the moderstaors only to ask questions that had multiple "right" answers, as these were the questions that best stimulated discussion.</p>
<p>Reasoning and discussion are skills that can be taught. When I taught at the (several) university I would begin teaching reasoning and inquiry. It only took a couple of weeks and made for a much more interesting class. My wife developed a curriculum in reasoning and analytical thinking for elementary students that is highly effective. We have found that having discussions about what is read rarely teaches reasoning to those who have not already stumbled on it on their own.</p>
<p>An interesting aside about preparedness for class: At UChicago a prof gave a heavy reading assignment on on a Friday. On Monday he acknowledged that this was not a good idea and he would not do so for the rest of the quarter. He then asked of the class of perhaps 15 or so students how many were actually able to complete the reading. About six hands went up. The prof nodded, then said, "Okay, the rest of you please leave, I do not speak to unprepared to students."</p>