Speaking in a Critical Voice

I'm amazed that some people have no idea how to think critically. I guess I've always just assumed that thinking critically is just something that comes naturally but after reading this article, I'm starting to see that it's not. I think it's horrible that some teachers don't teach critical thinking and it's ridiculous that some teachers don't even know what it is. How are students supposed to go out in the world and take what they've learned in school to succeed when all they're learning is facts.
Towards the end of my high school, the board decided to enforce a new teaching plan to enhance student's critical thinking. Whether it was in english or history or math, it applied. In english, for example, we would read a piece of literature and then take a few minutes to write about how that work related to our life, another book that we've read, and the world. This new activity was able to push students to think outside the classroom and in turn, learn how to critically think.