Conventional approaches to education tend to leave students deficient in comprehension, analysis and problem-solving skills. The inductive and deductive skills required for reading comprehension, plus the concept-formation and concept-analysis skills needed for the processing of information, are not adequately cultivated.
Students in every discipline require reasoning and concept formation skills as part of their career preparation and for their participation in institutions of society and for the overall course of their personal lives. The need for these skills is therefore essential rather than superficial. The assumption that these skills develop automatically with maturation, and that specific instruction in these areas need not be provided, puts masses of children at risk and may deprive them of the possibility of leading meaningful lives.