Should reasoning skills be taught in primary school?

This is a question that is more complex then it sounds. At first this question sounds like a no brainer, teaching children to be able to make good decisions based on reasoning and weighing the options, would sound like a good thing. However, there are pro’s and con’s to this.

Some pro’s include; Smarter, Logical, mature attitudes, and more responsible children. Kids would do better in school, and in general life because they would be able to reason the benefits of getting higher grades, staying out of trouble, and the possibilities that they could receive from those later in life.

However, con’s include nearly everything above as well. Smarter kids would be more independent, less emotionally attached to the parents for support. More logical children would also be able to realize the impossibility of things like Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the other wonders that make childhood special. Adolescents with mature attitudes would be less likely to follow the advice of their parents, believing they know what best, leading them into trouble. More responsible children would also be more concerned with the affairs of the adult world. Things like war, poverty, the state of the economy, and the precarious balance of power between the nations, would make the kids into depressed limp sacks of sorrow, killing all the joy and memories childhood supposed to give you.

There is also a much darker possibility. Children, who are taught to reason and use logic in making decisions, do not posses the necessary experience to understand that sometimes a logical course of action is not always the best one.

For instance, if one were to use only logic, in a situation where that one is being made to suffer by another, as school kids often do to each other, logic would dictate that the only viable conclusion would be to remove the other to preserve the self. In other words, a child using only logic would see justification in killing another, if the other presented harm to the child. A child using only logic would not see the point in merely walking away, or reporting the incident to an adult because of the chance of revictimization, it would make much more sense to them, to make a permanent end to the problem.

It may be faulty reasoning, but it is logical.

So my final opinion is that reasoning skills should not be taught in primary school.