When your experience with school has always been one of coercion this is the most difficult question to answer.  You've never been told that you can choose what you want to learn.

But, in the "real world,” you can and must choose what you want to learn.  It's a shame that many students are put through 12 years of schooling and come out with no idea what they really want to learn.  They often have no interest in learning anything.  

As children, these students were not like this at all.  They were like most children: curious, inquisitive, interested in learning.  What happened in the ensuing 12 years?

​In education these days it’s all about the data: assessment data, learning outcomes, retention rates, graduation rates.  But, what’s interesting to me is that much of this drive for data is being carried out seemingly without any real knowledge about or interest in real information that could provide useful insights into students’ behavior and how to provide them with valuable learning and advising experiences.  ​

Logic teaches a number of useful lessons such as how to identify fallacies, how to avoid cognitive biases, and how to construct good arguments.  But, some of the lessons of logic are counter=intuitive.  Let's look at a few of these.