Empower Your Children: Teach Kids to Ask Meaningful Questions, Recognize Bias, and Stand up for Themselves

The author and I disagree on some things. A number of them in fact. So why would i give him 5 stars? Because that’s why I enjoyed it. And, to a large extent why I believe he wrote the damn thing:to challenge the status quo and teach people to question what they read and learn.It’s also why I imagine he would be glad I used his own suggestions while interpreting his well-written, intellectual commentary.At the foundation of his book is the idea that you can learn critical thinking and should.If I was given 10 seconds to explain it to someone, I would say:Ask yourself the 4 W’s:(1) Says who?(2) Why should I care?(3) Why should I believe you?(4) Where’s the proof?You see, Dr. Rowley reminds us that it’s good to challenge new information. With so much of todays news coming from shifty social media posts we need this line of thinking more than ever. This we agree on - ad infinitum.Regardless of your stance on politics, civics, and history, there is a valuable lesson to learn.Ask yourself the 4 W’s.

The author provides excellent reasons for advocating for educational reform to add curriculum for teaching critical thinking skills and the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, After reading the book, the readers can decide at what level they wish to advocate for change, such as within their own homes, within their communities and local school districts, or at state or national levels, Before reading the book, it is important to realize the book is not providing specific methods for teaching your children, It is describing the need for teaching children to think critically and the steps to advocate for adding curriculum to all types of school structures, including homeschools, to impact the current and future generations of students to make good decisions based on facts. It is an informative read.

An experienced outdoorsman would never risk poisoning by drinking from a stream without knowing its source. Why would we risk letting our children’s minds be poisoned with information from unknown, possibly unqualified or mal-intended sources? As a parent, business professional and professor I believe Dr. Rowley struck home with his emphasis on critical thinking. Dr. Rowley believes teachers, parents and especially students must know the source of the information they are receiving as well as the author’s knowledge experience and their purpose in publication.Additionally, Dr. Rowley presents arguments for the current sad state of our educational system where critical thinking is not being stressed. He provides guidelines for parents and grandparents to get involved at various levels with the school system.I believe the publication of this book is very timely.

While I was hoping to read a helpful resource on how to teach kids critical thinking from a young age - this is more of a comprehensive look at America's education and political systems. Written from a university professor's prospective, the book sites many studies and publications. History lessons abound as well as expounding on the education systems failings.

I commend this author for putting these thoughts on paper. This great country has seen a definite decline in our youngsters learning about an unbiased balanced history. There has also been a significant decline of parental involvement in the home and at school. Critical thinking and asking challenging questions is encouraged in my house, though seems to be less common of the younger generations as a whole. This book is an amazing collection of the issues our country is facing and actions we can take to fix them. We all need to come together no matter our thoughts or feelings and learn to calmly discuss and debate rather than fight, riot, and destroy one another.

A contemporary, intelligent review of the need for critical thinking in our education system. The author sets the stage for a rebalance of our eduation system complete with action items and accountability. A necessary read if you care about your child's education.

He described very well how much schooling in the USA has lost a lot in education just because students are not taught a critical way of thinking. He also gave guidelines on how to change or apply this in today's education.

Dr. Rowley's work is a labor of love. What greater gift can we impart upon our children than that of discernment predicated on the sound principles outlined in Empower Your Children.

As a teacher, I have found it difficult to convince schools to teach children to be problem solvers, not simply to pass exams. As a parent I tried to do the former as much as possible. This was the guide I needed.