I feel somewhat validated

The following is an excerpt from David Loertcher's article "invention, transfer, efficiency, and innovation: 21st-century learning abilities can be taught", found in Teacher Librarian. 34.5 (June 2007). My comments are in italics at the end.

"Most learning experiences currently concentrate on efficiency: coming up with right answers using recognized techniques. . . [H]owever, these desirable learning characteristics--if really valued by society--must be assessed by using methods different from current standardized tests.

Action steps for the teacher-librarian when teaching alone or in collaboration with the classroom teacher follow:

At the beginning of a lesson, ask students to manipulate data on a topic to come up with an explanation, a formula, a way of seeing relationships--a preliminary invention of ideas. Do not criticize these efforts, even if they seem wrong. For example, if you know that students are going to face a wide spectrum of opinions on an issue, then provide them with a range of opinions in random order and ask groups or pairs of students to come up with a way to picture, group, or explain differences of opinion. Do not criticize charts or groupings; the students are inventing ways of thinking about data.

Teach the students how some experts deal with a range of opinions, by constructing an opinion line, such as that demonstrating for-and-against opinions or pro-and-con opinions. Have students retrieve articles on the subject and place the various opinions from the articles onto the opinion line; have them defend their placement.

Present students with a task that requires them to place articles on the opinion line as taught. They may argue among themselves about the position of a particular authority that seems to be taking a middle-of-the-road stance.

Assess their work as you normally would.
Finally, give the students a unique problem to solve where the technique taught might be one key in the solution to the problem. Assess their ability to encounter this novel problem in a new situation."

This is an English degree, only the "data" is words. If English studies - a core of Liberal Arts along with Philosophy, History, and other Humanities subjects - is already encouraging this type of intellectual pursuit and this type of intellectual pursuit is THE hot topic, why are the Humanities being underdiscussed, undervalued and underrecognized? People seem to discuss 21st century skills as something that needs to be incorporated into classrooms because it is not necessarily there.....but, in terms of critical thinking, it is.